By Grace Pateras
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The house used in Twister, a statue of politician James Harlan the state paid $5,000 for, a planetarium that’s been visited more than 1 million times. All this and more — everything from cemeteries to museums and even zoos — can be seen in Iowa. Finding

it all just became easier with the Iowa Culture App.

The Culture App is a free source to find arts, history, and culture throughout the state. The app is available on both the iTunes App Store and Google play.

Iowa Culture is a project by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs to provide a free, easy-to-use way of finding cultural and historical locations to travel, sightsee, and live, its website states.

I tried the app for a week, learning the ins and outs as a newbie to the system. I quickly found it didn’t take long to adapt to the app, and I learned different aspects of Iowa.

I even found the house I’m living in was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The house was built by Thomas C. Carson, who played an important role in developing Iowa City in 1855. “His long and successful career marks him as one of the important early businessmen in the county, and his elaborate home is a symbol of his financial success,” the app told me.

Coming to Iowa City from a different state, I had no idea the amount of arts and culture the town offers, let alone the whole state. But using the app gave me visuals of attractions in the state, by showing me a map and providing pictures with each destination.

The app allowed me to filter my search by distance to my location, city, category, or all of the above.

The three main categories split destinations by “Arts,” “History,” and “Science & Nature.”

For my first random search, I narrowed my listings down by 10 miles away from Iowa City and anything Arts related.

A map popped up with pin-drops of over 50 different locations. At random, I picked “Antique Car Museum of Iowa” to find out more information.

I clicked the pin and learned the museum, located in Coralville, was founded in 2006 to showcase the history of the automobile, with original cars starting from the year 1899 that have not been restored. It showcases cars as well as hosts an exhibit. According to the app, this museum holds the largest collection of antique cars in the state.

I learned all of that and more, saw a picture, got the phone number to the museum, and found the address, all from a quick write-up provided by the app.
After finding many other museums and other fun Iowa culture sights, I saw how easy the app was to navigate. Not only are the descriptions of the places quick, informative, and easy to read, but the search mechanism was simple and straightforward.

The app is always growing, as users can submit locations and information about places they believe should be on the app.

Had I not given the app a shot, I never would have discovered so many opportunities the state, and Iowa City, offers. I encourage people to download the app and see for themselves the many things to discover. There really is something for everyone.