Scenic Drive on Iowa's Mississippi River
Roll Your Windows Down
Limestone bluffs rise sharply from the Mississippi River across Iowa's southeast corner. Little-traveled roads top wooded ridges that blaze with color as fall progresses. The river towns of Burlington and Fort Madison stand on the banks, serving as gateways to the region's rich heritage.
On a roughly 200-mile route that begins and ends at the river, you'll travel inland, where the landscape flattens into gently rolling farmland. Roll your window down, and you'll probably hear the breeze rustling the rows of corn.
Farms surround the village of Swedesburg, which cherishes its Scandinavian heritage; and Bloomfield, where you might see horse-drawn Amish buggies around the courthouse square. The town anchors a large Amish settlement. The college town of Mount Pleasant honors the area's agricultural heritage with a museum complex and lively fall festival.
Along the Des Moines River not far from the Missouri line, you slip into a region of narrow county roads winding through wooded hills. The villages of Van Buren County recall the mid-1800s, when hundreds of steamboats churned into the thriving port towns of Keosauqua, Bentonsport and Bonaparte.
In those towns today, you can dine, stay overnight and shop in buildings more than 100 years old. Canoeing is a popular pastime on scenic stretches of the Des Moines River. In forested state parks along the riverbanks, visitors camp, fish and take quiet walks and bike rides. You're sure to want to linger even longer than a weekend in this land along the rivers.
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