Rhoades Family: Bridges of Madison County

Pumpkins in the cornfields
Gold among the brown
Leaves of rust and scarlet
Trembling slowly down
Birds that travel southward
Lovely time to play
Nothing is as pleasant
As an autumn day!

Fall in Iowa is very colorful. The leaves change colors. The mornings are crisp. Sandi and I decided to take a break and enjoy a Saturday morning drive. We drove about 45min from Des Moines and out to Winterset nestled in Madison County.

Have you heard of the Bridges of Madison County? Do you know what it is? I knew it was some sort of movie or book that I haven't seen or read. But I did a little wikipedia research: "The Bridges of Madison County is a 1992 best-selling novel by Robert James Waller which tells the story of a married but lonely Italian woman, living in 1960s Madison County, Iowa, who engages in an affair with a National Geographic photographer from Bellingham, Washington who is visiting Madison County in order to create a photographic essay on the covered bridges in the area. The novel is presented as a novelization of a true story, but it is in fact entirely fiction. However, the author has stated in an interview that there are strong similarities between the main character and himself. The Bridges of Madison County was made into a 1995 film of the same name, adapted by Richard LaGravenese and directed by Clint Eastwood. It stars Eastwood and Meryl Streep."

So Sandi and I drove around the county and visited the bridges. The bridges were all built in the late 1800s by Benton Jones with the exception of the Imes Bridge which was built by Eli Cox. There are only six standing bridges left in Madison County:

Cedar Bridge built 1883, 76 feet long.
Cutler-Donahoe Bridge built 1870, 79 feet long.
Hogback Bridge built 1884, 97 feet long.
Holliwell Bridge built 1880, 122 feet long.
Imes Bridge built 1870, 81 feet long.
Roseman Bridge built 1883, 107 feet long.

Winterset is the epitomy of a small midwest town. It has a red brick downtown storefront.

It has a shiny white court house.

Finally, this is the midwest, we need a water tower.

Winterset also features some things that set it apart from most midwest towns. It sports the birthplace of John Wayne.

And a large city park. The park features one of the covered bridges pictured above as well as a hedgerow maze and castle tower.

Clark Tower is a castle-like limestone tower located in Winterset city park. It was erected in 1926, on the eightieth anniversary of the founding of Madison County, in memory of Caleb Clark, a stonemason who was the first white settler of Madison County, and his wife Ruth Clanton Clark. The tower stands at a height of 25 feet.