Lily Lake, Amana Colonies

Lily Lake in the Amana Colonies was created incidentally through development of the mill race that supplies power to the woolen mill and historically provided water power for numerous other Amana industries. Originally a bog or wet field with rich bottom mud, the area became a fertile environment for the American lotus, or great yellow water lily. Oral tradition holds that American Indians camped nearby to harvest the edible lotus tubers in autumn. The pale-yellow, sweet-scented flowers have several rows of petals and sepals and bloom each summer in July and August. Amana colonists, especially children and young people, historically used the lake for ice-skating and boating, and today it is a popular fishing and picnic site in the Amana Colonies, a National Historic Landmark.

Iowa · United States