Vander Wilt Farmstead Historic District

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Vander Wilt Farmstead Historic District (also known as the Heritage House Bed and Breakfast) is a historic farming area north of Leighton, Iowa. It covers about 9 acres along Iowa Highway 163 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 8, 2004. The district reflects progressive farming ideas and the Country Life Movement that aimed to improve life for rural residents.

Key features
- A two-story house built in 1920 by Douwe Sjaardema, a contractor from Pella.
- A barn from 1904 (no longer standing).
- A corn crib built in 1953 by the Iowa Concrete Crib & Silo Co. of Des Moines.
- A dairy barn built in 1955.
- Feed lots and other farm structures.

Non-contributing resources
- An automobile garage and two silos (and some other structures not considered historically significant).

Special notes
- The farm includes a former airplane landing strip: a 1,500-foot grass runway where cows were sometimes grazed, with a windsock and homemade landing lights. A hangar built in 1955 no longer exists.

Location
- 1345 Iowa Highway 163, southwest of Leighton, Iowa.