The Bridges of Madison County, do you remember the book and/or the movie from the 1990’s? Winterset, Iowa, where Olivia had her nose work trial last weekend is in Madison County and they are famous for their covered bridges. There are six of them, we had time to find four of them. Next time we head to Winterset, we will look for the other two which are on the other side of town, spread out.
All along the highways in Madison County are the Covered Bridges Scenic Byway signs. The bridges are off the beaten path, and most of them are off gravel roads.
We started with the Cedar Covered Bridge. The original was built in 1893 and was renovated in 1998. Sadly, it was the target of arson and had to be rebuilt in 2019. If you know The Bridges of Madison County, it is the bridge on the cover of the book and where Francesca Johnson goes to meet Robert Kincaid to help him take photographs. From the four we had time to find, it was the least impressive, but it is probably because of having to be rebuilt.
Next we headed over to the Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge which was built in 1870. In 1970, they moved it to a park closer to Winterset.
The third bridge we visited was the Holliwell Covered Bridge. This bridge was built in 1880 and renovated in 1995. It was also featured in the movie The Bridges of Madison County.
On the way out of town, we were not far from the Hogback Covered Bridge, so we traveled a few miles down the gravel road to find it. This bridge was built in 1884 and renovated in 1992. As far as locations go, it had the best spot going over a small river.
The Imes and the Roseman we are saving for our next visit to Winterset. It’s funny when you travel to some town in the middle of nowhere and find out it is actually a famous place! Madison and Bailie visited the birthplace of John Wayne when they were in Winterset in 2019.
We are joining our friends at Living Laughing and Barking in Our Backyard is for their Nature Friday blog hop.
Nice trip, and you were able to get out at each bridge for pictures.
Yep, a little break from being in the car which is always nice.
thank you so much for featuring these! LOVED that movie! Love the photos!
You are welcome. They are fun to find…still two to go.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my dear girls I am a lover of covered bridges. WOW you found a treasure of them too. Such interesting designs. All equally gorgeous…the last might be my favorite.
Thank you for taking us on your Covered Bridge journey. Oh I do remember the book and movie Bridges of Madison County.
Hugs Cecilia
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them. They are fun to find, kind of like a big treasure hunt in the car. We’ll get the remaining two next time.
We love all covered bridges. They are just so cool and so rare. You now have mom wanting to watch the movie again☺
My mom says the good thing with humans is we forget a lot, so if we see a TV show or movie a second time, it is almost like new! Glad you love the bridges. They are fun to find.
How wonderful to see those beautiful covered bridges, thanks for taking us along!
It’s amazing how old they are. Thank goodness they keep them in good repair.
Beautiful history. Many, and I mean many, years ago my mom knew some people that traveled our country to take pictures of covered bridges. I imagine there were many more back then. My mom won’t let me read the book or watch the movie. She says I’m too young to know about The Bridges of Madison County!🤣 XOXO Sparkle
Oh dear. Maybe you can sneak the book somehow? They are interesting. We never thought much about them until we landed in Winterset 2 years ago and it was all about covered bridges.
Those covered bridges are so cool! There are 8 “authentic” covered bridges here in Connecticut. We have been to four of them. Maybe we will visit the rest this spring, summer and fall. 🙂
We never really thought much about covered bridges before, but they are pretty neat to find.
When I saw the title of this post I went to my bookcase in my office and pulled out The Bridges of Madison County, written by Robert James Waller. You made me smile. Most delightful read. I’m glad you got to see some of them.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. Scritches to all the pups. ♥
Yay! We were hoping a lot of our friends would have read the book or seen the movie. I’m sure they look better with us posed in front, but we weren’t born yet when the book and movie came out. Happy Easter Weekend!
You puppies have seen and been to more places than me.
And we don’t leave the five state area very often either. Mom says we need a big road trip one of these days. Bailie has done one, but we have not.
Thank you for sharing pictures and facts about the brides with us. We think they are super cool. Mom and Dad remember that movie, but me and Xena never saw it. Does it have other dogs or good food in it? XOX Lucy
It is kind of a mushy human movie, but the bridges are more fun than the movie, and they smell good too.
How cool!! Mama loves covered bridges and Arty saw a few of them when we traveled to Indiana a few years ago. I think we’ll be putting Madison County, IA on our list of places to visit!
It is also the birthplace of John Wayne. It is really in the middle of nowhere, but then again, you never know where one will find a special place.
I never read the book or saw the movie. It sounds like fun to go off the beaten path to find them all though!
Mom doesn’t like the gravel roads, but in the boonies, they are part of life, so we will drive them to find fun stuff.
While i’ve heard of the book and movie, i had not seen the movie or read the book. The bridges are lovely, i am glad you had fun finding them.
We didn’t put it together until the first time we visited two years ago and Gramma told us. It was fun finding some of the bridges.
I remember the name of the movie, but can’t remember if I saw it or not. If Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep played the main characters, then I did see it. Too much has happened in those 20+ years. 🤪
Mom says it seems like the movie was big yesterday, but it was really a long time ago!
How cool you could visit those architectural beauties!
Humans really seem to like these types of bridges.