page_title: Amana Colonies
section_title: Since the Great Change
hierarchical_section_title: Amana Colonies / Since the Great Change
caption_attribution_description: "Willkommen" sign in crossroads leading to en:Amana Colonies, Iowa. Photo by Asteriontalk 00:11, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
context_page_description: The Amana Colonies are seven villages on 26,000 acres located in Iowa County in east-central Iowa, United States: Amana, East Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, South Amana, West Amana, and Homestead. The villages were built and settled by German Pietists, who were persecuted in their homeland by the German state government and the Lutheran Church. Calling themselves the True Inspiration Congregations, they first settled in New York near Buffalo in what is now the town of West Seneca. However, seeking more isolated surroundings, they moved to Iowa in 1856. They lived a communal life until 1932.
  For eighty years, the Amana Colony maintained an almost completely self-sufficient local economy, importing very little from the industrializing American economy. The Amanians were able to achieve this independence and lifestyle by adhering to the specialized crafting and farming occupations that they had brought with them from Europe. Craftsmen passed their skills and techniques on from one generation to the next. They used hand, horse, wind, and water power, and made their own furniture, clothes, and other goods.
context_section_description: Most residents of the Amana Colony are considered tri-lingual. They speak American English, High German (Hochdeutsch), and a dialect known as Amana German (Kolonie-Deutsch). The language is High German in origin, but has strong influences of American English. For example, the word for rhubarb is Piestengel, combining the English word "pie" with the German word for stalk or stem.
  The Amana Society, Inc., corporate heir to the land and economic assets of communal Amana, continues to own and manage some 26,000 acres (110 km²) of farm, pasture and forest land. Agriculture remains an important economic base today just as it was in communal times. Because the land was not divided up with the end of communalism, the landscape of Amana still reflects its communal heritage. In addition, over 450 communal-era buildings stand in the seven villages—vivid reminders of the past. On June 23, 1965, the National Park Service deemed the Amana Colonies worthy of distinction as a National Historic Landmark. When the National Register of Historic Places was founded a year later, the Colonies were automatically listed.
  Amana Farms is home to Iowa’s largest privately held forest. Amana Farms has built a 1.6 million-gallon anaerobic digester with funding from the Iowa Office of Energy Independence, which produces fertilizer, heat for buildings, and methane for generating electricity. The digester processes organic waste streams from industrial partners such as Genencor International, Cargill and the International Paper Cedar River Mill, as well as manure, thereby reducing local methane emissions.
caption: Wilkommen to Amana Colonies, roadside sign
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