At home in a piece of history

Beth Howard stumbled onto the Iowa farmhouse depicted in Grant Wood's 1930 painting 'American Gothic' on a road trip after her husband died three years ago. It's now her home and a place of peace — despite the gawkers who flock to it.

ELDON, Iowa — Beth Howard sits at her kitchen table on a Sunday morning and pulls back the curtain to peer at a group of rosy-cheeked youths taking pictures on her front lawn. They pair off to stand side by side in the pose familiar to millions — the dour farmer with a pitchfork, the unsmiling woman beside him in front of the white house.

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