Bridges of Madison County

In 1992 a soft spoken professor named Robert James Waller from the University of Northern Iowa became famous for writing a short little novel called The Bridges of Madison County. Most people associate the title with the movie.



And most of us associate the movie with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. A pretty dynamic duo if there ever was one.



Recently I took a drive to Madison County (yes, there really is such a place!) to see some of the covered bridges. The bridges are near a small town called Winterset which is about 1/2 hour southwest of Des Moines.

Here is the real Roseman Bridge -- the one you see in the movie. You will notice I took this image from about the same location as the picture above of the two main actors. The difference is that the bridge has been repainted and fixed up since the movie was made.



In case you are not sure if you have the right covered bridge, there is a sign above each bridge -- though this particular bridge is usually crawling with tourists.



When you approach the bridge you can see the water in the stream below. I guess this is why there was a need for the bridge. To be honest, I liked the shadows as much as anything. I think that is what makes this image interesting.



These bridges are long and there is extremely heavy planking making up the floors. The reason these bridges were covered was to protect these heavy floors.



As you walk through any covered bridge -- especially Roseman -- you see handwritten names, notes, hearts, messages, etc. all along the walls. I thought this one was particularly interesting.



But this is what you see more than anything else -- two people's names and usually a date indicating the day of the visit.



I liked looking at the water and the surrounding trees, grasses and wildflowers.



There is a genuine peaceful quality to this area and I like that.



If you ever get to Iowa, be sure to put a visit to Madison County on your list.

Thanks for stopping by.