“In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live.” ― Robert James Waller, "The Bridges of Madison County"
Admittedly, I’ve never actually read or seen “The Bridges of Madison County”. The author attended the University of Northern Iowa (the college I graduated from). The county is just one over from where I currently live. And yet I still haven’t gotten around to it (it's on my list). But that didn’t stop me from taking the covered bridges tour around Madison County. We stopped at 6 bridges throughout the day plus we wandered into Winterset for their 50th annual Covered Bridges Festival.
It was a chilly fall day and we started off for Madison County. GPS and the website in hand, we decided to start with a bridge and work our way to the festival. The first bridge we stopped at was the Imes Bridge, built in 1870. It was just off the road and there were a couple farmers market stands set up in front of it. We pulled up to the barrier, hopped out of the car and took our first journey through time.
We bought some jam and a couple cups of apple cider before heading to the next bridge.
A short drive Southeast of Winterset took us to the Holliwell Covered Bridge. This bridge was built in 1880 and was featured in “The Bridges of Madison County” movie. It’s also the longest covered bridge at 122 feet.
After that we made our way into Winterset to check out the festival. It was $3 a person to get in and wrapped all the way around the town square. There were food vendors, crafts vendors and all sorts of booths. The shops were all open and bustling. We watched a band perform and saw the dueling violins perform Britney Spears. The energy was high and kids of all ages were wandering around. It was really great being there and we genuinely enjoyed all that was going on. After a while, we decided to go after the rest of the bridges.
As we left the town center we accidentally came across the next one: the Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge, built in 1870. It’s located at the city park (which also has a campground). We hung out there, trying out the hedge maze, walking across a stone bridge and saw there was a road that led to a lookout point.
We hopped in the car and started the drive up the hill to Clark Tower. Clark Tower was built in 1926 in honor of the county’s first pioneer family. It’s a beautiful stone tower that overlooks the surrounding area. You can either hike up to it – about 3 miles round trip – or you can drive. The roads are pretty narrow and can be steep – but overall it’s an easy trip. Click on any of the images below to see them full size.
From there, we pulled the map back up and moved on to the next: the Cedar Covered Bridge. The Cedar Covered Bridge was actually destroyed by arson in 2017, but they’ve officially rebuilt it and it’s now open to drive through. There's a beautiful grassy area next to it with a gazebo to gather some friends.
We headed out of town to a gravel road to get to the Roseman Covered Bridge. It was originally built in 1883 and was a bridge featured both in The Bridges of Madison County book and movie. It’s also supposedly haunted.. to learn more about that, click here. There is a little gift shop next to this one. Stop in there for a variety of wines, to see a clip of the film, or find plenty of gift options ("The Bridges of Madison County" and John Wayne fans will especially be thrilled).
Our final stop on the bridge tour was the beautiful Hogback Covered Bridge built in 1884. It’s north of Winterset in a beautiful valley. Along with all the graffiti inside, they have a Dream Journal to sign your name or write your dream.
If you're looking for a cool way to spend a Saturday and get some beautiful Iowa countryside views, this is the perfect tour for you. All of these bridges were a pretty short drive from Des Moines. To learn more about the covered bridges or to get a map to all of them, Madison County has a section on their website dedicated to them: http://www.madisoncounty.com/the-covered-bridges/
Live big.