As we begin the winter and things slow down in the colonies,  I decided it would be fun to start a string of blog posts that share information about each of our rooms as well as bits and pieces of information you may not know about the hotel and Amana Colonies history.

As you may know, Bill Zuber was a baseball player (another post will share more about his career).  This part of his life is shared throughout the hotel.  Different ways you can see this connection in the hotel are as follows. Room 2, The Major Leaguer, is dedicated to his baseball career as well as being host to one of the Bill Zuber restaurant signs.  Opposite the front desk is a display case on the wall hosting one of his baseball uniforms, and some other memorabilia.  The uniform is on loan to us from Bill’s family.  During the restaurant days, you could buy (or might have been given – I’m not sure) baseball shaped pens.  We worked with a local cooper (wood worker) to replicate these pens, and have them for sale by our front desk.  There is a wonderful book written locally, about Bill Zuber and his life.  It has fantastic pictures and is a quick easy, interesting read!  We have this book for sale.  Walk into the Wagon Wheel room and as you look out picture windows, you’ll see the giant baseball bat and ball that Brian and I had carved out of a dead pine tree.  Finally, as you head into the guest kitchen to get ice – look at the floor.  You’ll see an amazing piece of artwork!