The Bridges of Madison County

Many of you have since the movie "The Bridges of Madison County" with Clint Eastwood (as Robert Kincaid) and Meryl Streep (as Francesca Johnson). But did you know you can actually visit the bridges and many of the other places from the movie? The movie was filmed entirely on location in the Iowa towns of Winterset and Adel and the surrounding countryside. There is an annual Covered Bridge Festival in Winterset each October, during which you can take bus tours to the bridges and other movie sights.

The movie starts with Robert Kincaid coming to Madison County in order to take pictures of the Roseman and Holliwell covered bridges for National Geographic. He gets lost and pulls his green pick-up into the driveway of Francesa Johnson's home so he can ask for directions.

We were in Madison County in October 2002 and the prior month the Cedar Bridge was destroyed by an arsonist. It was a sad sight to see that day. The original bridge, shown here, was built in 1883 and was the last covered bridge still open to vehicles. A replica of the original bridge was built from the original plans and was dedicated in October 2004.

The Cutler-Donahoe Bridge was built in 1870. It was moved to its present site in Winterset's City Park in 1970. 

Francesca's House had been abandoned for over 35 years and was fully restored for use in the film. We were able to tour the house in 2002, but the following year it was damaged by an arson fire and it is no longer open for tours. One of the amazing things was the detail that was put into the restoration. All the wallpaper was aged and smudges were added to all the wall switches to make them look authentic.

This is one of my favorite photos. It's of my mom and my aunt sitting down at Francesca's kitchen table. Nothing in the house was roped off, so you were free to check it all out, even peeking behind doors and curtains.

The bathtub was the scene of a steamy movie scene and lots of people enjoyed sitting in the tub to have their picture taken. The plumbing hadn't been restored in the house, so to make the shower work in the movie they had to pump water upstairs and through the shower head.

And here is Robert Kincaid's truck sitting on the lawn in front of Francesca's house. We were told that Clint Eastwood drove his own green pick-up in the movie, and this is a replica of that truck.