MIDWEST OLD THRESHERS HERITAGE MUSEUMS (ages 7 and up) [symbols O, V] 405 East Threshers Road, Mount Pleasant 52641; (319) 385-8937; Web site: www.oldthreshers.org; Email: info@oldthreshers.org Open 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Monday through Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Saturday and Sunday from Memorial Day through Labor Day; weekends from mid-April to Memorial Day and from Labor Day to mid-October. Admission costs $. Children age fourteen and under get in FREE. When you arrive at this rural museum complex, first stop is a ride on a steam-operated 1894 carousel. Then you can get a glimpse of what farming used to be like by visiting the museum's collection of antique trailers, buggies and wagons, plus steam engines and farm implements. The museum also has interpretive exhibits on water, electricity and farming, plus women's contribution to family farms. Also on the grounds is the Museum of Repertoire Americana, boasting the nation's largest collection of rural show business memorabilia (costumes, scrapbooks, even opera house curtains) from the days when traveling theater companies set up shop in tents in small Iowa towns. (It's open fewer hours than the rest of the museums - from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. Tuesday through Saturday.) If you're visiting on a cold day, keep in mind that these are unheated buildings. Excerpted from Iowa: Hundreds of Ideas for Day Trips with the Kids by Betsy Rubiner All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
