Saturday trip with the DeMordaunts

We also visited a couple of historic villages in Iowa - Bentonsport, and Bonaparte. Bonaparte is where my great-great grandfather died on his way to Winter Quarters leaving his widow with a young baby and 10 other children!

Bentonsport, Iowa... a quaint little restored village..kind of like Nauvoo. Below is a quote I googled about this town. Interesting that many of these homes were build by the Mormons on their way west.

A small Iowa village on the Des Moines River was once an important port-of-call for Des Moines River steamboats. Tree-covered hills hem in the little valley in which Bentonsport lies.
A booming town of over 500 in the late 1800's, Bentonsport, now much smaller, is a popular retreat with the history, park and artist atmoshpere.
Several Mormon families stayed in Bentonsport anywhere from a few months to several years in order to build up supplies to continue west. The Mason House Inn is one testament to the craftmanship of those early pioneers.

A century old iron foot bridge in Bentonsport,

The Des Moines River...see the shadow of the bridge.

View of the Des Moines river from the edge of the bridge

Us on the bridge....do we look like missionaries?

A darling house right by the Des Moines river. What a fun summer home!

The view right outside out window at the Bonaparte Retreat where we ate. This restaurant was an old grist mill used in the 1800's It was so beautiful and the food was delicious. I had a rib eye steak and it must have weighed 2 pounds! No kidding, I should have taken a picture of it.....covered the whole plate and was about 2 inches thick!! DELICIOUS!

We saw this sign by a bridge and had to take a picture. Don't you love it that they call them a "band of Mormons"!! They were real desperados weren't they ?![