The Sawmill Museum is the Perfect Getaway!

The Story in a Nutshell

Located at 2231 Grant Street in Clinton, Iowa, below the levee of the Mississippi River:
The museum tells 19th century story of when the Clinton lumber companies joined with Weyerhaeuser from the Quad Cities and a few others to create a "monopoly." Known as the Weyerhaeuser syndicate, our area lumbermen ruled the Northwoods and the western lumber trade.  Discover a river story, an Iowa story, and a national story at The Sawmill Museum. 

Exhibits

The exhibits are for all ages and are highly interactive and engaging. Kids love to spend time in the logging camp, floating log rafts down the water table, and playing with train tables. Adults & families love the video game recreating the floating raft journey, the animatronic lumber barons, and the vintage equipment. Everyone learns when logs filled the river and lumber ruled the rails.  

Programs & Planning Visit 

Check out our facebook page or front page to discover all the fun events we have throughout the year. We allow reentry to the museum so you can come and go throughout the day. We even have a program room that you can eat a lunch in if not occupied. 

Bring Your Tour Bus/Group Tour

• The Sawmill Museum offers guided docents for bus tours, $25 per hour. The guided tour can be informational- an hour long tour of Clinton's history. Or the tour can be as guide from attraction to attraction.
  
• The museum has tour bus parking and can handle 50 adults with limited notice.
  
• For a live sawing, we do require advanced notice.
  
• We have an eating space that can seat 60-80 adults or can work with you to book a group meal at a local restaurant or the Curtis Mansion.
  
• $3 per person for buses. 
• Let us work with Visit Clinton, Iowa to book your entire tour or we are a perfect stop between Dubuque and Davenport or Chicago and Des Moines. 

Fun Places to Stay

Iowa Stone House Sabula 
Island Harbor City
Fischers Bed & Breakfast 
Wide River Winery Air BnB 
​Cabins at Clinton County Conservation 
Check out Visit Clinton Iowa for all our hotels and other accommodations 

Reasons To Make It An Overnight Trip 

Mississippi River Fun

Are you a river enthusiast? A quick day trip itinerary (1) See the sunrise at the Palisades State Park (one hour) in Savanna to (2) Lock & Dam 13 (30 mins); to Fulton's Windmill (30mins-one hour) to The Sawmill (1 hour) to Eagle Point Park (1 hour), and then to Rock Creek Marina (1 hour). You haven't even hit Clinton's Downtown Riverfront! You can hit a Blue Heron eco-cruise or rent kayaks/canoes. End the day enjoying a sunset walking/cycling Clinton's Discovery Trail. Clinton has multiple boat ramps and boat friendly hotels! 

Things to Do With Families 

Kids will love getting out and moving around Clinton's amazing outdoors.  Take them fishing, go to  Eagle Point Park and the Arboretum, and down to Riverfront Park. To get a break from the weather, swing by The Sawmill and take a trip to the Discovery Center (perfect for 0-8 year olds). Make sure you head out to Rock Creek to touch the turtles. There is ceramics in Thomson and tons of art classes in the area (check out Cheeky Gallery for a kid friendly business). Happy Joes & Backshop Pizza have arcades and food!  Needless to say, at each location you can spend hours. During the summer, end the night at a Lumberking baseball game, a movie at the theater, ice cream, or more. Going north or south,  make sure you bring the family to The Sawmill as you head to the Family Museum in Bettendorf or the River Museum in Dubuque. 

A Couple's Trip

Call The Sawmill Museum at 563.242.0343 and we can book a full weekend for you based on whatever your interests! Guaranteed.

​Do you like to gamble, we have Wild Rose & Casino. Don't like to gamble? Stay at Fischer Bed & Breakfast or one of our hotels. Clinton has forty local shopping stops full of antiques and quality local items.  The author, 35, brought a friend last year, and to their surprise, they killed three hours just walking the downtown. But we have Fulton & Lyons for shopping and then the westside! Then the Farmer's Market as well.

Want more history? Call (563) 242-8556 to book your tour of the Curtis Mansion. Make a visit to the Historical Society. At the museum, you can pick up an architectural tour of the town as well. The Lyons Library has all your genealogy needs. LeClaire's Buffalo Bill Museum, the GAHC, Putnam, and Figge in the QCs, Dubuque's River Mansion, Galena, John Deere stuff, are all within an hour! 
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Wide River Winery in Clinton offers stunning views.  Heck you like wine, stay here in Clinton and you can hit dozens of breweries and wineries in all directions! 

During the summer, take in a Lumberking game or a Showboat show on our Riverfront. Live music and outdoor events are on both sides of the river through the summer. Year round The V'ue and Wild Rose offer live entertainment. 

Theater buff? Stay here and you can go to the Showboat, Timberlake and Old Creamery, Adler, Circa, and Bell Tower; plus shows in Maquoketa and DeWitt. Plenty of fun bars and great eating all throughout town. Not to mention art galleries in Clinton, Mt. Carroll, and the area. We have multiple art trails that Clinton is the perfect place to launch from. 

Motorcyclists? Well stay here and ride up to Poopy's in Savanna (an all night affair!) and cruise up and down the Great River Road.