The Bridges of Madison County

Today we headed to Winterset in Madison County to see the six remaining covered bridges. Winterset is only about 45 minutes from downtown Des Moines so it makes for a great day trip. Our first stop was the Madison County Visitor Center where we got lots of great info on the town and picked up a map of covered bridge route. 

Before we started on the Covered Bridges Scenic Byway, we walked around Winterset a little and had lunch at the counter of the local drug store.  The town is exactly what LuLu was hoping to see complete with hanging baskets of petunias. The town is very charming but sadly several of the restaurants have closed in the past year due to COVID...including the Northside Cafe where part of the movie was filmed.

To get to all the bridges, you drive on dusty gravel roads...definitely not has hairy as driving on the Bozeman Trail (my map reading skills have greatly improved since my trip to Montana!).  Just as we arrived at the first bridge, Roseman, the skies opened up and there wasn't a chance to get out so we decided to head over to Hogback Bridge and see if the weather was better there.

By the time we got to Hogback Bridge, the rain had let up and we were able to get out and walk around the bridge.   Hogback Bridge was built in 1884 and spans over 98 feet over the North River.  While some of the bridges have been relocated over the years, Hogback is in its original location.

Most of the bridges had a few white wood panels for people to leave messages and Hogsback even has a Dreamers Journal. The current journal is the 60th volume and the last entry was June 6.  

When we left Hogback, we headed up to North River Road as the lady at the Visitor Center said there were great views back to town. While we never saw the views, we did come across the North River Stone Schoolhouse.  A one-room school educated kids in the area from 1874 to 1945.  When they say one-room, they mean one room as the kids wouldn't need a hall pass but a yard pass to get to the bathroom!

All of the covered bridges are closed to cars with the exception of Cedar Bridge. Built in 1883, this is the bridge that was on the cover of The Bridges of Madison County. 

Because of the location of the bridges, you tend to retrace some of your steps getting from one bridge to another and getting from Cedar Bridge to Cutler-Donahoe took us back through town.  By now, we were a little peckish so we stopped for a chocolate soft-serve from Frostee's.

Since the rain had finally let up for the day (happy for us but know the farmers really need the rain), we thought we'd head back over to Roseman Bridge.  This bridge was built in 1883 and spans the Middle River.

Next bridge was Cutler-Donahoe but to get to it, we had to go back through Winterset (total "Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament" moment).  Until today, I didn't know John Wayne was from Winterset and as we passed the John Wayne Museum en route to Cutler-Donahoe, we saw The Freedom Rock.

Artist Ray "Bubba" Sorensen has designed Freedom Rocks for 95 of the 99 counties in Iowa so far as a way to honor our veterans.  The one next to the John Wayne Musuem, shows John in four of his military movies.  While he never served, he was extremely patriotic and each time he tried to enlist he received a deferment because he had four kids.  Also, on this Freedom Rock is a tribute to four local POWs from World War II, a tribute to George Stout (The Monument Men is based upon him) and Glenn Martin (Lockheed-Martin) both from Madison County and finally Quilts of Valor Foundation (Winterset is the national headquarters for QOVF).

We almost missed the Cutler-Donahoe Bridge as we drove right pass it when we entered the City Park!  The bridge was built in 1871 and originally spanned the North River in Bevington.  In 1970, it was relocated to City Park.

Just a few yards away from Cutler-Donahoe
was this charming little stone bridge.

Next stop was the Holliwell Bridge.  Built in 1880, the Holliwell spans 110 feet making it the longest of the bridges.

Our final bridge of the tour was the Imes Bridge in St. Charles.  The Imes was built in 1871 and is the oldest of the remaining bridges.  It was originally located on the Middle River in Patterson but was relocated to St. Charles.

After a long day of touring, we decided to stop off at HyVee (regional grocery store) and picked up a flatbread pizza to go with the bottle of Madison County Wine we picked up today.  Tomorrow is Farmer's Market, Salisbury House and Sculpture Park so we are in for the night!