The One Iowa Town That's So Perfectly Midwestern

Dyersville, located in eastern-central Iowa, is so charming and beautiful, it will make you feel like you died and went to heaven. This small town has a population of 4,058, and it was the setting for the 1989 movie, "Field of Dreams."

You can play a game of catch on the famous field nestled in the corn on the Lansing family farm, visit the gift shop, and, starting on November 1st, the farmhouse is now open and available for tours. If you visit, you’ll get a half-hour guided tour with plenty of baseball artifacts and descriptions of how the movie was filmed there. 28995 Lansing Rd., Dyersville, IA.

Make sure to wander around in downtown Dyersville to soak in the town’s charm and pay a visit to the shops. Dyersville was actually named one of the 50 most beautiful small towns in America by Good Housekeeping Magazine.

The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier is an incredible sight to behold, with paintings and frescoes, 64 cathedral glass windows and two impressive 212 foot tall steeples. It’s a beautiful example of Ruskinian Gothic Revival architecture. 104 3rd St. SW, Dyersville, IA.

Founded in 1986, The National Farm Toy Museum specializes in preserving scale models, replicas and toys modeled after farm equipment. 1110 16th Ave. SE, Dyersville, IA.

Country Junction Restaurant is a homey, family-style restaurant with the most Midwest decor imaginable, like tools, equipment and memorabilia. The restaurant’s building is modeled after a rustic barn, so you feel like you’re eating out in the countryside, and there’s a silo bar where you can wet your whistle with local brews. They offer good old fashioned country cooking, like country fried steak, chicken pot pie and smothered roast beef. 913 15th Ave. SE, Dyersville, IA.