Cedar Rapids: Iowa's Czech village

On the Cedar River in central Iowa, Cedar Rapids holds one of the most numerous and rooted Czech-origin communities in all of the United States.

The downtown, which hosts the Czech village of Iowa, is comfortably walkable.

The National Czech and Slovak Museum, the largest museum dedicated to Czech and Slovak culture outside Europe, tells the long history of Bohemian immigration into rural Iowa.

A short walk away, the Czech Village district comes alive with traditional shops and restaurants serving kolache and other Central European pastries.

Heading toward the center, you visit the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, with works by regional painter Grant Wood, famous worldwide for 'American Gothic'.

In the evening, the NewBo district comes alive with craft markets and various restaurants in converted industrial buildings.

Cedar Rapids welcomed thousands of Bohemian immigrants starting in the mid-1800s, creating one of the most numerous Czech-origin communities in the United States, celebrated every year with dedicated festivals.

The painter Grant Wood, author of the celebrated painting 'American Gothic', lived and worked extensively in Cedar Rapids, where he drew considerable inspiration from the surrounding rural and agricultural landscape.