Field of Dreams

Location: Near Dyersville, Iowa

" ...people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past... Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come."

-- Terence Mann, Field of Dreams

And they do come, sometimes in droves, to visit the movie site tucked away in Iowa cornfields. Some arrive with gloves and balls to "have a catch with Dad." Some walk the bases, carefully touching each bag. And some just sit in the bleachers like Ray and Annie, watching the field and enjoying the sun. Most will ask their friends and family to take their picture as they walk out of the corn, appearing just like Shoeless Joe and the other Ghost Players did.

Of course, it helps to come a bit later in the season when there actually IS corn to walk out of! Still, you take what the road gives you, so we walked out of what corn there was and made the best of it:

ZoAnn appears out of the corn:

John appears out of the corn:

No one could see us coming through that corn, could they?

The site could easily be missed if one is not looking for it. It is marked only by small signs, and even these are few in number. There are no billboards, marquees, or flyers, and there is no admission charge for visiting the ball field (although donations are accepted). The house is not open to the public, but the porch swing, where everyone would want to sit, is no longer there as it was borrowed for the movie and had to be returned.

This place is one more interesting find in Iowa, a state I am liking more and more. When John Kinsella asks Ray if this is heaven, Ray's reply is simply, "No, it's Iowa."