How much greener can you get?
Maybe there isn’t green grass yet, nor green trees, but I felt the need to post a green anything. I found this big green guy in my archives.
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Iowa
fifth in series of Bridges of Madison County
Roseman Bridge was built by Benton Jones across the Middle River several miles southwest of Winterset, Iowa. It remains in its original setting. It is 107 feet in length. The Roseman Bridge was renovated in 1992 at a cost of $152,515. It was chosen as one of the main settings for the movie The Bridges of Madison County in 1994, but since it had recently been renovated the bridge looked too spiffed up. The movie company sent a crew to “age” the covered bridge for the movie, and according to contract, they “un-aged” it after the movie was completed.
The Roseman is the bridge most people associate with the book and movie. This is the bridge Robert Kincaid searches for when he stops at Francesca Johnson’s farmhouse for directions. It is also where Francesca leaves her note inviting Kincaid to dinner.
built 126 years ago
Every autumn the citizens of Madison County hold the Covered Bridge Festival. It has become a tradition for over 30 years. Each year on the second full weekend in October, county residents gather in autumn to celebrate the historic covered bridges. The festival features old-time craft demonstrations by local artisans, a wide variety of food, music and entertainment, an antique vehicle parade, tours of the bridges. Check out the festival plans for October 8 and 9, 2009.
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Covered Bridges have Great Shadows
The Cutler-Donahoe Bridge is the only remaining covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa to have two names. The bridges were usually named after the family that lived the closest, but both the Cutlers and the Donahoes demanded naming rights. Guess they didn’t have bidding wars back then.
fourth in the series of The Bridges of Madison County
This bridge was built in 1870 by Eli Cox. It is 79 feet in length. It was originally located over the North River near Bevington. It was moved to its present site in Winterset’s City Park in 1970 for preservation.
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third in the series of Bridges from Madison County
Another covered bridge from Madison County. Now that I have dug into my archives from last October, I am determined to get this series of bridges posted, and then I can cross this off my photo to-do list.
This bridge was built in 1884 by Benton Jones. (Benton appears to have done most of the bridge building in the county.) It runs 97 feet long across the North River.
The people who named the creeks and rivers in this central Iowa region had a utilitarian approach to their job. A few of the many water ways near Winterset are known as Middle River, South River, North River . . . you get the general idea.
Why name a bridge Hogback?
They were a little more inventive when it came to naming the actual bridges. Though most of the county’s covered bridges were named after the bridge’s closest neighbor (or neighbors if there was a bit of an disagreement), Hogback got its name from the limestone ridge which forms the west end of this valley.
Lovely Autumn Day for the Last Leg of a Long Drive
I took these photographs on the last day of a 16 day road trip from Wisconsin to New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and back. By the time we hit Iowa we were getting close to home, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to check out these bridges. They are all only a short drive from either Interstate 80 which cuts east-west through Iowa, or Interstate 35 which bisects the state with its north-south route.
A map provided by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce shows all the locations of the bridges and other locations from the movie The Bridges of Madison County, plus the birthplace home of John Wayne.
Ha! Bet you didn’t know John Wayne had to share Winterset’s limelight with all the covered bridges in the area. I didn’t take a photo of his home. I think the bridges had more appeal, and I was running out of time and energy.
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second in series of The Bridges of Madison County
Built in 1880 by Benton Jones, it is the longest covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa. It measures 122 feet in length. It is one of only two bridges in the county that remains at its original site. It is located a few miles southeast of Winterset.
crossing the Middle River just outside of Winterset
It was featured in the 1995 movie, The Bridges of Madison County.
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First in a series of the Bridges of Madison County
Remember the movie The Bridges of Madison County? It was a hit in 1995, and nominated for an Oscar. (Meryl Streep for Best Actress in a leading role, but Susan Sarandon won for her role in Dead Man Walking.) Directed by Clint Eastwood, and produced by Eastwood and Kathleen Kennedy, the film is a narrative about choices and consequences.
The story begins: It is autumn, 1965. Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) comes to Madison County, Iowa, to photograph the Roseman and Holliwell covered bridges. He is a professional photographer on assignment to the National Geographic magazine and he is lost. Pulling his green pickup into the driveway of a farmhouse, he asks for directions. Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep) is at home, alone. Her husband and two children are visiting the Illinois State Fair for the next 4 days. Francesca has been married for 15 years and is anticipating “time alone with herself” as the stranger approaches her for information.
The movie was adapted for screen by Richard LaGravenese from Robert James Waller’s novel, The Bridges of Madison County.
The Bridges of Madison County was made on location in Madison County not far from Des Moines in central Iowa.
Built in 1870
Madison County originally had 19 covered bridges, but only six remain today.
The large number of covered bridges in this one county began as an economical move. The bridges were covered by order of the County Board of Supervisors in the early 1880s to help preserve the large flooring timbers. The floor boards were much more expensive than the lumber required to cover the sides and roof of the bridge.
Typically the bridges were named for the resident (or residents) who lived nearest to the bridge, an easy referencing method for the locals.
The oldest of the remaining covered bridges, the Imes is 81 feet in length. It was originally located over the Middle River west of Patterson, Iowa. In 1887 it was moved to a spot over Clinton Creek southwest of Hanley. The Imes Bridge was moved again to its present site over a natural ravine just east of St. Charles in 1977 and renovated in 1997. All 6 bridges are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Interior Woodwork
There is a fair amount of heavy duty wood reinforcing the inside of the barn.
A Bit of Nature, Too
Even the birds’ can get their nest covered in Madison County–if they build them in the eaves of the covered bridges.
I took photographs of the six bridges last autumn, on our trip home from the Southwest. There are more to come.
(I am plain worn out posting all those “whites in winter” shots. At least the bridges are mostly red, and surrounded by green trees and grass.)
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Here's Looking at You, Folks
This guy didn’t seem to have much faith in the photographer nor the photographer’s equipment. Even after I capped my lens, folded my tripod, and turned away, I could feel his eyes piercing my back. Honest! When I turned around, he was still staring at me.
So was he simply curious, or was he giving me the ol’ evil-eye?
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Out Standing in a Field
When I was a kid, my sense of humor ran to the obvious. I thought it hysterical to show one of my (three) grandmothers a sheet of white paper, and ask them what they thought of my drawing. They, of course knowing the drill, as I did this once a winter, would kindly ask “What is it?”
I, in glee, would reply “White cows in a blizzard.”
So, here’s an adaptation of the same – but this time you can see the cows (cattle, really) in their dark coats. The rest of the photo is playing true to the original version.
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Another Snow-Capped Day!
Red sumac seeds are an important source of bird food, precisely because they simply stay on the plant long enough to be part of the winter scenery. This makes them the perfect emergency food for all sorts of birds during the long winter months. Bluebirds, black-capped chickadees and robins will feed on sumac seeds in winter and early spring when there is little else for them to eat; it’s not their favorite food source, but there are times when it isn’t prudent to be picky.
And going in a totally different direction, I found a bit of poetry with an interesting reference to the sumac:
The sumac’s candelabrum darkly flames.
And I speak to you with the land’s voice,
It is the cold, wild land that says to you
A knowledge glimmers in the sleep of things:
The old hills hunch before the north wind blows.
~ Howard Nemerov (American poet, 1920-1991)
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On our recent travels to the Southwest, we spent two days driving west from Wisconsin to our first destination, and then two days driving east from our last destination back to the Midwest. We had much ground to cover–over 2200 miles–on those four days, and we were traveling on Interstates, something that neither of us particularly enjoy.
We didn’t want to squander four days of our two week vacation doing nothing but driving, so I researched our route before we left our home. Perhaps Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas don’t have a lot of well-known places to visit, but there is always something interesting to see if you are willing to look. And I found quite a few treasures that gave us an hour’s diversion from the monotony of the road.
Jewel Box Bank
Our first treasure literally was a jewel. We stopped at Grinnell, Iowa, which was just a few miles off I-80, to see the Merchant’s Bank, one in a series of architect Louis Sullivan’s Jewel Box Banks. Though Sullivan is most famously known as the “Father of skyscrapers”, he also left a legacy of these small banks, eight in all, dotting the Midwest.
Drat that car, but I wanted a photo of the front exterior showcasing the rose window medallion, and the car came with the exterior shot.
The window is designed with overlapping circles and squares that are in encased in terracotta ornamentation.
Terracotta Griffin
Griffins originally flanked both sides of the bank’s entrance, built vandals destroyed the East Griffin in 2006. The terracotta and stained glass were a significant part of Sullivan’s designs.
Terracotta Griffin
When the bank opened on January 1, 1915, the townspeople of Grinnell were nearly unanimous in their approval. One citizen observed, “It sure looks nothing like Grinnell.”
Although that’s not entirely true. Grinnell, a small farming community, has an astounding number of buildings designed by well-known architects.
I think the building is best summed up by a newspaper journalist who wrote for the Grinnell Herald and was allowed a sneak preview prior to the grand opening for his article. He wrote:
“Go back to the north end and turn around to the south. Raise the eyes above the partitions and brickwork and catch the massive simplicity of the long beams along the ceiling: study the windowed colored by Millet and its mosaic replica below which surrounds the clock with face of gold. Raise the eyes still higher to the skylight… If you are in just the right mood in time you can hear the dash of the waters over Niagara Falls, listen to the winds that sweep across the prairies of the West, see the blue that hovers over the land of the azure sky and understand something of what Sullivan meant when he talked about the genius of America.”
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