Small Town News

Decorah, IA - We Plot Our Solo Spin-off Podcasts

August 13, 2022 Small Town News Season 3 Episode 32
Small Town News
Decorah, IA - We Plot Our Solo Spin-off Podcasts
Show Notes

Welcome to Decorah, Iowa!  Decorah is the seat of Winneshiek County and is located in Northeast Iowa.  The town is built on top of a nearly four mile wide crater created by a large meteorite about 470 million years ago.   The crater was filled in when an ancient seaway filled the crater with sediment and strange sea creatures that hardened into fossils.  One of the creatures is even named for the city, Pentecopterus Decorahensis.  The town is located in the Driftless Area, an area in the Midwest that was never covered by ice during the last ice age.  Because the area lacks glacial deposits known as drift, the landscape has steep hills, ridges, and river valleys unlike the the remainder of the Midwest and central Plains regions.  Decorah was settled by a large number of Norwegians who were instrumental in founding Luther College, a private Lutheran college in town.  The town also home to the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, the largest Norwegian Museum in the country.  Nordic Fest is held during the last weekend in July each year to celebrate the traditions and culture of Scandinavian cultures.  The town is also home to the Seed Savers Exchange and the Decorah Ice Cave, which is apparently extremely dark, cold, and dangerous.  We hope you enjoy our trip to Decorah!  

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