This is a new place we are trying out this year! Very cool winery and spirits place in Cumming, Iowa. Ben Hagen and I will be doing some tunes from my songbook while you sit back and relax on a Sunday afternoon drinking some wine!

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Skip the books, sip some wine; a 122-year-old schoolhouse in Cumming just got new tenants. 

Middlebrook Mercantile — a wine bar, general store and event space — opened in mid-May in Middlebrook, Iowa's first agrihood, located in Cumming.

A schoolhouse, built in 1900, houses the mercantile, a building where former Iowa U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin once attended classes. The school closed in 1969 and has been home to several restaurants since.

Sitting at 4125 Cumming Ave., Cumming, the mercantile also connects to a bike path that leads to the 19-mile Great Western Trail that links Des Moines and Martensdale.

Walking inside, customers face 16 windows, four on each wall, letting in a stunning amount of natural light from every angle. On one side of the building sits a patio for snacking or sipping, and on the other side, a beer garden is being developed, set to open toward the end of summer.