Bridges of Madison County

Once we discovered yesterday that we were in Madison County, we knew we wanted to visit the covered bridges. When you travel the back roads through the heart of Madison County, you can see the largest group of covered bridges that exists in one area west of the Mississippi River.

Five of the original 20 covered bridges (plus one that was rebuilt) remain. The original five are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Madison County has a Bridge Festival every fall. The money used helped to restore all of the bridges during the 1980s.

The bridges were originally covered by order of the County Board of Supervisors to help preserve the large flooring timbers which were more expensive to replace than the lumber covering the sides and the roof. Most of the construction work was done by farmers to pay their poll taxes. The bridges were usually named for the nearest resident.

The closest one to Winterset is the Cutler-Donahoe bridge which was built in 1870. (Both adjacent neighbors claimed the bridge, hence the hyphenated name.)

 

From there we went to the Holliwell Bridge which was built in 1880 --

The next one we saw was near the little town of St. Charles. The Imes Bridges was built in 1870 --

 

Cedar Bridge is the one that was rebuilt in 1984 after being burned down by young man who was attempting to burn out his and his ex-girl friends initials (according to the story told us by the lady in the gift shop at Roseman). It is the only bridge that you are still able to drive through!

 

Hogback Bridge was built in 1884 and sits on its original site (many of the others have been moved once or even twice.)

 

Roseman Bridge looks very similar to Hogback. Built in 1883, it is the star of the movie, Bridges of Madison County --

 

All of the bridges were quite covered with graffiti. They seemed to be a popular place for couples to immortalize their infatuation. It looks like the front portions of all the bridges are frequently repainted.

There was a Gift Shop across the creek from Roseman Bridge -- and the lady there actually sold Sharpies to use to write on the walls! She also told us how the movie crew had come in and sand-blasted the paint on the bridge and removed some of the boards to make it look older, then restored it when they were done shooting.

I got a chuckle out of this bridge replica birdhouse at the gift shop. It actually had an active nest in it.

Our friend Leslie bought a DVD of the Bridges of Madison County with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood at the gift shop. Because Forry and Bill had not seen it, we sat and watched it when we got home last night.