Bily Clocks Museum

Frank and Joseph Bily were farmers of Czech descent who lived and worked near Spillville in the early twentieth century. Self-taught carvers, they turned to woodworking in the winter months when farm work slowed, and over decades they produced a series of clocks that grew ever more ambitious, some standing taller than a person and covered in hundreds of hand-carved figures.

Their masterpieces include clocks celebrating American pioneer history, the story of aviation, and religious themes such as the Apostles' Parade, in which carved figures emerge and process on the hour. The brothers made these works purely for the love of the craft, not for sale, and they famously turned down large offers, choosing instead to keep the collection together and eventually give it to the town of Spillville.

The building that houses the clocks has a second claim to fame. In the summer of 1893 the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, then living in the United States, came to Spillville to spend a season among fellow Czech immigrants, and he lodged in a room on the upper floor of this very building. He had recently completed his New World Symphony, and in Spillville he composed chamber works while walking the banks of the Turkey River.

That a composer of Dvorak's stature spent a creative summer in a tiny Iowa town speaks to how strong the Czech immigrant community was here. The museum preserves and interprets his rooms upstairs, so a visit connects two very different kinds of artistry, the folk carving of the Bily brothers below and the classical music of Dvorak above, both rooted in the same Czech heritage.

Spillville was settled in the 1850s by Czech immigrants drawn to the wooded hills and fertile valleys of northeast Iowa, and it remains one of the most distinctly Czech towns in the state. Its old church, its cemetery, and its family names all reflect that heritage, and the town takes quiet pride in its music, its faith, and its craft traditions.

The surrounding landscape is the Driftless Area, a region the last glaciers missed, leaving a rumpled country of steep hills, rocky bluffs, cold trout streams, and deep valleys unlike the flat prairie most people picture in Iowa. The Turkey River flows through Spillville, and the whole area rewards a slow drive along its back roads and river valleys.

The Driftless country of northeast Iowa is the ancestral homeland of the Ho-Chunk, the Meskwaki, and the Sauk peoples, along with the Ioway, for whom the state is named, who lived and traveled through these valleys and along the rivers. Their descendants remain part of the region's living Native communities today.

The steep, spring-fed valleys of the Driftless drew successive peoples for their game, fish, and shelter, and the ancient mound-building traditions of the upper Mississippi reach into this corner of Iowa. The Czech settlers who founded Spillville came to a landscape already rich in deep human history, and a visit to the region takes in both its immigrant heritage and its far older Native roots.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

The Bily Clocks Museum, in the small Czech-heritage town of Spillville in northeastern Iowa, houses an astonishing collection of elaborate hand-carved wooden clocks created by two farmer brothers, the Bily brothers, over their lifetimes in the early twentieth century. These remarkable clocks, some towering many feet tall, are intricately carved with historical scenes, figures, and moving parts, representing tens of thousands of hours of patient craftsmanship. The building also honors the famed Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, who once stayed in Spillville. With its extraordinary carved clocks and Czech heritage, the Bily Clocks Museum offers a unique and fascinating destination in northeastern Iowa.

The Bily Clocks were made by two brothers, Frank and Joseph Bily, farmers in the Spillville area who spent the long Iowa winters over many years hand-carving elaborate, intricate wooden clocks as a labor of love and artistry in the early twentieth century. Though they had no formal art training, the brothers created astonishingly detailed masterpieces adorned with carved scenes, figures, and mechanical features, and they famously chose never to sell their beloved clocks despite offers. Their extraordinary craftsmanship and devotion are what make the Bily Clocks Museum so remarkable to visit in Spillville, northeastern Iowa.

You can see the Bily brothers' astonishing collection of hand-carved wooden clocks, from small pieces to towering creations many feet tall, admire their intricate carvings of historical scenes, figures, and moving mechanical parts, and learn about the brothers' lives and their decades of patient craftsmanship. The building also features exhibits on the composer Antonin Dvorak, who stayed in Spillville and composed there. The remarkable clocks are the highlight, amazing visitors with their detail. With its extraordinary carved clocks and cultural history, the Bily Clocks Museum offers a fascinating visit in Spillville, northeastern Iowa.

The Bily Clocks Museum typically operates on a seasonal schedule, generally open in the warmer months from around spring through fall, so those are the times to visit, with summer the peak season, and the surrounding driftless country especially beautiful then, though checking current days and hours before you go is wise. As an indoor museum, it is enjoyable in any weather during its open season. For the fullest access and to pair it with the scenic region, aim for late spring through fall at the Bily Clocks Museum in Spillville, northeastern Iowa.

The Bily Clocks Museum is in the town of Spillville in northeastern Iowa, near Decorah with Dunning's Spring and its ice cave, within reach of the Great River Road at Guttenberg, Effigy Mounds National Monument, and Pikes Peak State Park along the Mississippi. That makes the Bily Clocks Museum a unique stop to combine with Decorah, Dunning's Spring, and the other attractions of northeastern Iowa on a visit to the state.