This is a must stop…read more This is a great place to learn about furniture, craftsmanship, and 19th century Iowa History. RVP has a couple dozen prototype pieces of furniture that are representative of what was made in Iowa in 1875. Robby makes the furniture with the same tools from 1875, with the same wood, with all wooden joints. Although the display furniture (prototype) is not for sale, one can order based upon it choosing the type of wood and finish that you want. Understanding that high quality furniture is not cheap, I was very surprised at the relatively reasonable prices (for high quality furniture). I have seen much lesser quality pieces elsewhere at much higher prices. We had a very interesting and informative 15-20 presentation/discussion about the furniture, the workshop, the process, and the history.

This place is extremely beautiful. The biggest downside to here is the hours on their website are…read morenot accurate. I came here to visit the inside and the arrive to a locked door. On the door was a note saying they are only open 1 day a week. I was able to peak in the window and see all the beautiful architecture. I was also able to explore the outside grounds too. However it can be slightly frustrating if your website says it will be open but you're not actually open. Overall this place is not huge and is a walkable distance to several other things. So I recommend walk past it to see if it's open. If it's closed, visit somewhere else.

This place is absolutely stunning inside. So clean, well kept. It was our first time & we attended…read moreCandlelight The Beatles. The staff were so pleasant, & helpful. I got a small sprite for $1. They had cocktails available. The bathroom immaculate. I would definitely recommend checking this beautiful building out given the chance! The symphony played for an hour & did an amazing job. I heard there is a beautiful garden outside however we rushed to our cars because of the cold temps.

On a weekend jaunt to central Iowa and stopped in Boone for lunch. Had previously seen the signs…read morefor this little spot, and had some extra time so gave it a try. A very nicely maintained home, honoring one of our first ladies. The home has been moved to a lot across the street from it's original location. It will not take you very long to take the tour, but between the guided talk and the interesting displays on the lower level, allow at least 30 minutes time. They also have two vintage autos in a garage that is also on the property. It is a very nice stop, especially for those golden agers who remember Ike and his Mrs.

Gayle and I stopped by last month and took the guided tour. It was $5 each and the local docent did…read morea very good job showing us around and explaining the various historical aspects of this property, and of course Mamie and Dwight.

I like to squeeze in a museum when I can in a city that is unfamiliar to me. This stop was truly on…read morea whim. My main reason for dropping by Des Moines was to see an Iowa Wild game. The following day, I had to leave the city and head back to Bloomington. I wanted to do a quick touristy visit somewhere. I did a search and found Jordan House Museum. Driving over here was enjoyable. The leaves were a gorgeous deep red in the area. I had no problem finding the museum. When you are pulling into the parking lot, you do not want to come in at full force. I didn't because I was checking the house out. The lot where you park your car is all gravel. When you walk up to the museum, it is thankfully cement. If you want a tour of the museum, you do need to book online. Even if you book online, it's based on demand. If there aren't enough folks who want to do the tour, it gets cancelled. I saw the cancellation sign on the door. Since I visited because I felt like it, I still learned a lot with the signs and information presented to me. I was not disappointed. I also like self-exploration, which may not be for everyone. Jordan House was built by James Cuttingham Jordan, who was an abolitionist. This house was a station on the Underground Railroad in Iowa. It ended up being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. James Jordan was a cattle farmer from Virginia. He settled in central Iowa in 1846. He was a businessman, organizing the State Bank of Des Moines. He helped bring the railroad to Des Moines. He ultimately ended up being a civic leader, and was elected to both the Iowa Senate and the Iowa House of Representatives. He helped move the state capital from Iowa City to Des Moines. I had no idea that Iowa City was once the state capital. Cool! There is a pathway to history in front of the main entrance of this house, where you can reserve a brick and have it dedicated to a special loved one. I spent a lot of time reading the messages on this pathway. It was highly enjoyable and moving on a Fall day. My favourite saying came from the Caruthers family: Be so awesome today that tomorrow is jealous!!! Three exclamation points. Love it! There was one other woman who had pulled into the lot next to my rental car. She did not do any self-exploration. She went to the main door, saw that the tour was cancelled, headed back to her vehicle, and left. The house is well-maintained on the outside. It has a veranda with a bunch of green chairs. The lawn was recently mowed. The small shrubs around the flags at the front were perfectly trimmed. I had a nice, off-the-cuff visit to this museum. I learned a lot and hope to do a tour inside the museum whenever I'm back in Des Moines for hopefully a longer visit. (458)

Great tour. Guide was very knowledgeable. Home has several of the original articles. We took our 3…read moreteenagers, 2 girls(12&14) and a boy (15), and they all enjoyed it. Not once did they get on their phone due to boredom.

Want to learn more about this amazing state? Then plan your trip to take a tour of the exhibits at…read morethe Historical Building. Conveniently located near a free parking ramp and the State Capitol building (while you're at it, take a tour there too!). This building also hosts events. I have attended a roof top wedding reception and a day long symposium is the auditorium.

There are an excellent array of exhibits here! Ranging from early Iowa settler history, to civil…read morerights war, and everything in between until present day! It's free, and there's a good amount of info in short blurbs so it's all easy to read. There's interactive exhibits and it's all very clean. Definitely check this out to learn a lot about Iowa and US history in the context of Iowa. It's very kid friendly as well.

Great way to spend a bit of time walking around the historic village. There are 20 buildings all…read moreconnected with an outdoor courtyard. Wyatt Erp house, mill, carving shop, bakery, museum, and forge. For just a bit of money it's a great way to spend an hour or so. Then you get to take a guided tour through the windmill and miniature Dutch village. It was amazing to go up inside the windmill and see the process of how they grind the flour. You can purchase bags of the stone ground flour in the mill's gift shop or you can go to Jarsema bakery and get mill ground wheat rolls. It's a great tour and really interesting!! I will be back during the tulip festival to see the shops working!!!

My family and I absolutely loved our experience here. It starts with a guided tour of the windmill…read more During the tour you learn about the Netherlands, see a wonderful miniature village setup, and then go into the mill and see the windmill in action. Our two daughters (5 and 7) got a little bit bored when the guide was talking about the mill but they absolutely lived the miniature village (it really is magnificent). After the guided part of the tower you can go through the little village of out buildings at your own pace. We loved this! We spent several hours here and thought it was well worth the money ($10 for adults and $2 for kids).

Review Visit: September 15th, 2015…read more This blog contains a random story about how we stumbled upon this place and the strange tour we received. On a whim and after convincing someone to go on a 4 hour car ride to get burgers at Zombie Burger, we stumbled in to Des Moines with no idea what else we were going to do. Little did we know that it would entail burgers, bagels, and an tour of a governor's mansion. But no, this wasn't any ol' tour. It was by the maintenance worker. Before we got our fill at Zombie Burger, we were driving around Des Moines and seeing if anything caught our eyes. At some point, I see a brown sign that pointed to Terrace Hill. I asked the people I were with if they wanted to check it out and they all agreed. So, we ended up following the brown signs and we ended up at a place that was not a hill, but a mansion. As we parked the car and got out, we noticed some groundskeepers working on some bricks. They gave us an odd look, which I didn't find too comforting, but we progressed forward. As we approached the front door, we ran in to some other people who happened to stumble upon the place. We exchanged stories and it turns out, they also had no idea what the place was but were intrigued. At this point, a guy approaches us and asks what we are doing. We said that we stumbled upon the place and had no idea what it was. The gentleman introduces himself as the head of maintenance and that the tour guide is not there. Whether by luck or friendliness, he decided to give us a tour himself. He warned us that we will be getting a personalized tour as he normally doesn't do that. With that in mind, he took us in and started showing us around. I can't remember the minute details of the place, but he told us a lot of behind-the-scenes stories that we wouldn't have gotten during a normal tour. Stuff about how they transported a very expensive lamp as though it were any normal lamp but found out later it was worth a hefty sum of money. Stories on how they keep up maintenance around the place and all the little fixes they've done over the years. This continued as he gave us a in-depth guide of the first two floors. The 3rd floor was inaccessible as this is where the Governor sleeps. As for the 2 floors we were shown, I have to say it was excellent. There was a beautiful stained glass window between the two floors that I fell in love with. After the tour of the mansion, we were guided out the back and got a quick overview of the grounds. The yard was beautifully kept and made me wish we could walk around more to get a full view of it. As we rounded the house, the impromptu tour guide told us a hilarious story about how they had a bunch of squirrels and other small animals on the property that were acting weird. He said they were extremely lethargic and had trouble keeping balance. It turns out that these small animals were getting drunk off of some fruits that fell off a few trees and started fermenting. That mental image will never leave my head. Ha! As he wrapped up that story, he noticed the Governor's police protection people had shown up and were parked in the driveway. Upon seeing this, he told us that the time has come for us to go as the Governor was about to show up and the Security Officers might tackle us to the ground/questioned as we weren't supposed to be there. With that in mind, all of us thanked the guy profusely and went on our way. It was the best tour I have ever gotten, bar none. And that is how my friends, some strangers, and myself almost ended up tackled/questioned by the Governor's security and also how we ended up getting the best tour ever.

After living in Des Moines for 3 years, I realized I should start taking some tours of the local…read morehistorical buildings in the area to gain a better understanding of the town I live in. This happened to be on of the landmarks we decided to tour! If you drive on the interstate in town often, you'll see a sign that says "Terrace Hill Historical Building, Exit here". I never thought too much about that, but after visiting it's cool to know what they building is and it's history. For those who really don't know what it is, Terrace Hill is the Governor's house. Yes, the Governor of Iowa actually lives here with his family! The Governor lives on the 3rd floor of the house, which is off-limits to the public, the rest of the house is open for a tour. Parking...parking is terrible here, either I didn't find it or there really isn't a private lot for visitors. You need to find street parking in the residential neighborhood surrounding the building, at least parking is free. After parking, you walk up towards the Carriage house of the building, not the actual house (there are signs to tell you not to enter and guide you to the Carriage house). This is where the meet with the tour guides to begin to the tour (check the website for tour times, they are set). The tour is $5 per person, it is a guided tour, self-tours are not authorized. The tour takes about an hour and the history of the house is explained, it is a great story and learning about everything in the house was very interesting! Although the house does not appear to be as big as it is from the outside, there is still much to learn about it's history. I definitely recommend coming here for a tour! You will be educated and marveled by the beauty of the architecture!

This couple offers one far more than visits to quilt stores, although those are gems in and of…read morethemselves. Besides meeting the interesting people on the tour, guests are entertained with historical highlights of many sites along the way and are treated to the food of many high quality restaurants the price of which is included with the cost of the tour. Letty L.

Great trips, good buses and drivers, good hotels and great restaurants suggestions. Nancy and Denny…read moretake care of anything that comes up.

Many places to visit with lots of awesome local entertainment. Great fun for the family or even a…read moreday-date! We spent hours on the tour and didn't even hit all locations. We ended at Carl's Place (a local bar) which is listed as a "point of interest" on the tour's map. Having a cold beer was a perfect ending to my tour of the neighborhood. This was a really well-organized event. Most (if not all) of the staff were volunteers from the neighborhood. They were all welcoming and friendly. Great community outreach.

This weekend was the 41st anniversary of the Doors to the Past walking tour of the historic homes…read more Lots of volunteers at the homes-all of them were very friendly-even with the rainy/cold weather. It was so interesting to be able to tour numerous homes in the Sherwood area. Some have been renovated back to their original charm. Some are "works in progress" and some had amazing modern touches. It was amazing to see the original plaster details still present and restored tin ceilings. These home owners take great pride in these historical homes and have graciously opened them for the public to view.

We enjoyed a great tour of the East Village on a beautiful June day. Four unique dining venues…read morealong with a dose of history was included in the tour. Our guide, Angie, was a knowledgeable and gracious host. A perfect experience for residents or visitors to the area. Plan to spend 2 and half to 3 hours on the tour.

From the owner: Tour Des Moines offers fun, informational, and tasty tours of Iowa's capital city. Join us for a…read morewalking food tour of the city's original entertainment district -- Court Avenue -- or of our eclectic and funky East Village neighborhood. If you'd rather explore Des Moines in a city tour, we can do that, too! From the Pappajohn Sculpture Park to the Iowa State Capitol, Des Moines has much to explore. It's a city as exciting as it is accessible. Des Moines is the darling of national ranking lists, finding itself on lists such as "Hippest Mid-Size City in America" and "Best Up-and-Coming City for Foodies," as well as being the fastest growing metro in the Midwest. We have unique and delicious dining experiences, from casual to classy upscale. Our walking food tours will allow you to sample from a variety of culinary experiences while learning about Des Moines' past and present. In the East Village, you'll also have the opportunity for shopping in the eclectic and charming stores. Tour Des Moines offers scheduled tours, or we're happy to discuss a private tour for your family, friends, organization or business.