Meticulously restored Victorian Prairie Gothic houses dot the recreated village of Lesanville. The dwellings, operated as bed and breakfasts are complimented by a replica depot, a meeting/convention hall, an authentic one room school house, and a one room church.

    
The Burlington Railroad line serviced the local areas and wound through Ringgold County through Lesanville and Mount Ayr, Iowa traversing between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Paul Ramsey still reminisces and returns to his boyhood days when the locomotives rolled through Lesanville taking passengers and cargo to and from markets at all points along the line. The recreated depot returns one to those days.

    
The Heritage House, a restored one room school house that has been converted to a convention center and meeting hall is available for rent, for functions and gatherings and can serve parties of up to sixty individuals.

    
We also invite our visitors to tour the one room schoolhouse. This experience takes one back to the days when slates were pulled by students from lift top desks to participate in the days lessons. All grades were in one centralized room from the primary grades and up. One can almost imagine the sound of the chalk as it was put to the slate under the auspices of the school master.

    
Tour Uncle George's barn and experience farm life when people relied upon draft animals to work the land. Eight stalls housed the draft animals with harness hung neatly behind, ready for the day's work of planting, plowing, haying, and harvesting the farm's crops.

    
The church is also available for tours and is a recreation of the type that dotted the countryside of rural Iowa. From the handmade pews that adorn the sanctuary to the pulpit of this quaint village worship hall the church can offer a unique snapshot of the religious and cultural values that have been a stalwart of rural Midwestern life.

   
New for 2008 and 2009 is the Ramsey Farms Pavilion. Designed by architect Michael Paul Ramsey the structure is approximately 6000 square feet and features a commercial kitchen and full services bar. It was designed as a facility to provide for larger functions than the Heritage House.  Weddings, conventions, corporate groups, meetings, all are within the range of the Ramsey Farms Pavilion.
    
Four festivals per year are planned for the farm.  Spring Fling at Ramsey Farms, is a celebration heralding the end of another long Midwestern winter.  The Ramsey Farms Sweet Corn, Watermelon, and Hay Making Festival, invites all, young and old, to join us in the revelries of summer in southwest Iowa.  Harvest Days, is a celebration of the year's bounty and features field demonstrations using antique and horse drawn equipment, wagon rides, and antique tractors shows, area crafts and produce, culminated by an old fashioned barn dance.  Christmas at Ramsey Farms, a celebration of an old fashioned Midwestern Christmas, takes one back in time to Christmas in a bygone era.  Tour the farm to view the elegant period decorations and come to the Pavilion for an old fashioned caroling and dance.  Check our website for a schedule of the events planned at the Ramsey Farms and Lesanville Inn. We invite you to come and be our guest and share in the festivities.

    
Four dwellings that are restored to the period are available for lodging and function as a Bed and Breakfast and can be rented by calling the Lesanville Inn at 641-464-2076 or emailing us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  For more information you can look us up on the world wide web at: www. lesanvilleinn.com. We invite you and welcome you to visit the Ramsey Farms at Lesanville.  Stroll through the gardens and grounds and stay with us for what will be a truly unique experience.

 

    
The Princess Theater thrilled audiences from 1914 to 1985.  In the beginning, live musicians accompanied the silent auction. On May 9, 1929 the first talkies were shown at the Princess starring Jack Holt and Jean Hersholt. The coolest place in town was air-conditioned by electric fans blowing over boxes of ice. After a major remodeling and improvement project in 1937, the Princess was described by newspaper as one of the most beautiful and modern show buildings in southern Iowa.  The Princess Theater continued to be a leading venue for local entertainment until 1985 when declining attendance during the Iowa farm crisis closed its doors.

    
In 2004 Paul Ramsey, a philanthropist with local ties, bought and donated the building to the newly formed Princess Theater Troupe for the purpose of restoring and reopening the theater as a movie and live-stage theater.  The theater reopened August 21, 2008 with 5 sold out performances of "Farmer Song the Musical" and now operates as a community operated non-profit organization.  The total cost of the renovation was $406,000and was made possible through grants, volunteer labor, generous donations and large fundraising effort.  The Princess Theater is part of the larger Historical Square project currently underway to return downtown Mount Ayr to an early 20^th century town square.
 

Whitson grew up in Beaconsfield and gradated from Mt. Ayr Community High School. She has been on two space missions and has spent more time in space than any other woman astronaut, and has been the only female commander of the space shuttle.

    

Whitson currently serves as chief of the Astronaut Corps, responsible for the mission preparation activities of all space Shuttle and International Space Station crews and their support personnel. Whitson has performed a total of six career spacewalks, adding up to 39 hours, 46 minutes, more than any other woman.

 

    
Circuit rider W.C. Williams was the first pastor to serve the Methodist church in Mount Ayr with Charles “Skip” Rushing becoming number fifty-six in July, 2009.

    
Various updates and modifications have been made to the building, including the installation of a limited access elevator with service to the upper and lower floors as well as to the outside.
 

Smokin’ in the Ayr continues to grow and is becoming one of southern Iowa’s best barbecue contests.  This year we are looking to build on last year’s success.  We had 15 teams that prepared over 1,200 pounds of succulent pork, ribs and brisket for everyone to enjoy. 

This year will be our fifth contest and will be held in conjunction with Ayr Days, July 23-24, 2010.  We will still feature the three main meat categories but in addition to this will be a new baked bean contest for people to try.   

Things will start Friday evening as the cooking teams will set up their work areas and start preparing their meat.  The public is invited to come and visit with the teams and enjoy music on the square.  On Saturday each team will turn in their creations for judging.  Following judging, the contest will open for people to come and sample from each team.  You are allowed to try as much as you want with your entry fee.  There will be live music during the day and into the night.   People are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and enjoy all the activities of Ayr Days.  So if you enjoy good food, good music and good company then Smokin’ in the Ayr will be the event for you. If you need a place to stay while visiting one of the many events in Mount Ayr, try the magnificent Bed and Breakfast Inn, Charlie and Janes. You will find the people friendly and the service unbeatable.

    
For more information, please contact Ron Schafer at 641-414-1527.

The most important thing for a good hunt is clean and comfortable accommodations. The Wildbird Ridge Lodge offers this to you at a reasonable rate in a prime hunting area in southern Iowa. Iowa hosts more than 250,000 hunters annually. Iowa is known as a premier upland bird hunting destination in the Midwest.

Wildbird Ridge Lodge offers a lighted trap range, kennels, and nearby hunting. The lodge features five bedrooms, private baths with showers, plus a private Suite complete with kitchenette that comfortably sleeps 4 adults. Amenities at the lodge include dining for 35+ guests, a large deck w/whirlpool spa, pool table, dartboard, and indoor telescope for viewing wildlife. There is a Big Screen TV, a DVD and wood-burning fireplace. Local game includes pheasant, quail, deer and turkey - all are plentiful..

    
Mount Ayr and the surrounding area are very popular spots for hunters and outdoorsmen. There's fishing, boating, hunting, cross country skiing, running trails and so many other activities – including enjoyable outings at the local 9-hole golf course, the entertainment venue at the community theatre, tennis courts, walking and hiking trails and a nearby dirt bike track.
    
There are three areas where Canadian geese gather in good numbers in this area. These are Three Mile Lake, Green Valley State Park and Sun Valley Lake, creating lots of opportunities for goose hunting.  We are within 7 miles of a Prairie Chicken preserve.  For more information, call 641-340-0415 or 641-464-3648.

One of the earliest buildings in Mt. Ayr is the Timby Building, which is located on the northeast corner of the Mt. Ayr Square.

    
It was built in 1889 by the Timby Family, early settlers of the county.

    
In the early years after it was built it housed a general mercantile business. The upper floor became offices for many professional people over the years.

     
The lower level floor has been occupied by several businesses through the years, including a grocery store, Ben Franklin Store, Place’s Department Store, Small Corral, and Pheasant Run Restaurants.

    
Presently it is a restaurant known as the Iowa Roadhouse and is owned and operated by Kenny and Debbie Robertson.

The Pioneer Center is located at Ellston, in the Northeast corner of Ringgold County. Included in the center is the Rural Life Museum in a 100-foot by 50-foot brick building, which was originally built for a telephone factory.

In 1914 two strangers came to Ellston with the intention of building a telephone factory. The money was raised for the building and local people used their life savings to get it started but nothing happened. It was then they realized they had been swindled and the two men had disappeared and were never heard from again.

    
Through the years the building had several owners and in 1971 a prominent farmer from Union County purchased the building and presented it to the Ringgold County Historical Society. It was used as a museum for the preservation and display of horse drawn and early farming equipment. Today it’s a museum for display of agricultural artifacts and is visited by thousands of people each year.

    
It also houses the national Old Thrashers Hall of Fame and a diorama of the original town of Caledonia, which no longer exists.

    
Included in the Pioneer Center is the restored Cornwall Pioneer home which was built by the early Cornwalls who came to Iowa from Ohio in the 1950s and built the home in the northeast part of Ringgold County. It was moved to the Pioneer Center in 1970 by a Cornwall descendent and presented to the Historical Society.

    
The former Hazel Glen Rural School was moved from Washington Township in northwest Ringgold County to the Pioneer Center after the rural schools were closed. Here rural school teachers of the county are honored with pictures and information about their teaching careers included in a Hall of Fame Wall in the schoolhouses.  Call 641-783-2155 for more information.

The depot in Mount Ayr is thought to have been built in the 1870s, as trains were coming to the town by 1879.  Around 1916 the railroad agreed to improve and remodel the building. It was completely redone, with a  stucco exterior and tile floors. Steam heat and rest rooms were added. This depot served the community until the CB & Q Railroad closed it in 1968.  During the last several years of use, an apartment was built in the west side where the station agent and his family lived.

    
In 1969 the building was sold to Bastow Feed and Grain Co. and was used as an office and storage.  Later the deteriorating building was sold and used as a motorcycle repair shop. Dennis Pyland then bought the structure and used it for storage.  In 1991 the depot was purchased from Pyland and work began on the building to restore it.

     
A lot of repair was needed and help came from several places. The State Historical  Preservation Office was involved in overseeing the restoration process. The Mt. Ayr   High School Construction Tech classes of 1992-93 and 1994-95 helped by re-roofing and starting the rebuilding process. Many hours of donated work went into the reconstruction. The park area was purchased from the railroad in 1993, after the former Ringgold Ag. Building was demolished. Trees and shrubs have been donated to make the park attractive again.

  
At the present time it is being used as a museum concentrating on (but not limited to) transportation items and artifacts that were used during the settlement of Mt. Ayr and Ringgold County.

Lucky Lanes was the name chosen for the 4-lane bowling alley which opened in 1960 on the first floor of the IOOF building in Mt. Ayr. It continued to be operated at that location under several different owners until it was closed in 1994.

A project was started in 2009 to organize the Ringgold County Bowling Association, a non-profit group which will operate the 6-lane bowling alley with a non-profit Board of Directors and volunteers.

    
The name “Lucky Lanes” was reused for the new facility now located in a building which formerly housed a department store and other businesses through the years on the east side of the square in Mt. Ayr. The entire building has been renovated and remodeled and a completely new food and drink service has been added.

    
The walls on either side of the lanes have been tastefully decorated with oversized pictures of movie stars from movies of the past, including John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe.

   
A large screen TV and a jukebox have been installed in the refreshment area of the building which has a Las Vegas décor throughout. The new facility opened for bowling in September 2009 and electronic scoring machine have been installed to bring the bowling alley up-to-date. There is league bowling 4 nights a week with open bowling on Friday and Saturday nights.

    
The lanes will also be used by the physical education department, the High School Bowling teams, and for youth bowling. The facility will also be available for rent by private parties.

    
Lucky Lanes is just one more piece of the puzzle of inspiring opportunities in Ringgold County through non-profit and cooperative efforts. Call 641-464-9005 for more information.