(26) Madison County 10.08.2022

 Madison County filled our cups! This is definitely a county to return to!

Everyone knows Madison County from the Bridges of Madison County, and there is definitely a reason why they are known for that. We’ve seen a few of the bridges before, but on this day, we did all 6 of them! It was also the Bridges of Madison County Festival, which was an enjoyable downtown festival with lots of food and vendors. We were a little disappointed there weren’t any actual activities or events, but there is a parade on Sunday, and there was a lot going on at the Madison County Historical Complex. But I’ve jumped ahead 😊

 

We actually started the day in Earlham at the Beans and Beignet Coffee Shop. This was such a cute little coffee shop, and the beignets alone were worth the visit! We got there quite early so the few boutiques along the main street weren’t open yet. We’ll have to make a visit back to check them out! (update: we went back to RJ Home for one of their market weekends, and it certainly did not disappoint!)

After Earlham we started the Bridges of Madison County “tour.” Our first stop was the Hogback Covered Bridge. The Hogback Covered Bridge has the oldest timber of all the standing covered bridges in Madison County.

Next up was the Cedar Covered Bridge. This is the only covered bridge in Madison County that you can still drive through.

Then we went to the Holliwell Covered Bridge which is the longest covered bridge and the longest remaining timber bridge in the state of Iowa.

 

We made our way over to St. Charles to see the Imes Covered Bridge, which is the oldest of all of the covered bridges in Madison County, dating back to 1870.

While we were in St. Charles, we stopped at the Welcome Center, hoping to learn a bit more about Madison County, but unfortunately, they mostly only had brochures you could pick up!

We were really excited for the next stop on our trip—the original Red Delicious Apple Tree in East Peru (pronounced Pea-ru just in case you were wondering 😊). We first stopped and took the obligatory picture by the East Peru sign noting that it is the home of the Original Red Delicious Apple Tree and then ventured out to find the tree itself. 

Before going on the hunt for the Original Red Delicious Apple Tree we stopped at the local park in East Peru.

We had read that this most famous apple tree was north of town so we headed that way. We did ask a few locals along the way who guided us, and we may or may not have gone into the backyard of someone’s property trying to find this elusive tree, but alas we came up empty handed ☹ What a day it would have been for the Appelgate clan if we had been able to take our picture next to such a historical apple tree; instead, there is just emptiness inside our hearts!

 

After further questioning of other local museum historians, we were still not able to get a clear answer on the exact whereabouts of this tree... we’re beginning to wonder if this tree has unfortunately been lost over the years. For as much as Madison County claims this originality, it has neglected to honor the significance of this landmark! Obviously, this tree carried significance to us, do I really need to say why 😊

After spending way too much time trying to find this historical tree, we made our way to Pammel State Park to view the Harmon Tunnel—the only highway tunnel in Iowa. 

Also in Pammel State Park is a landmark of the Old Backbone Mill which was completed in 1859.

We then made our way to our 5^th covered bridge—the Roseman Covered Bridge. The Roseman Covered Bridge is the longest covered bridge (225 feet long) and the most famous of the bridges as it is the main bridge showcased in the movie The Bridges of Madison County.

After viewing the Roseman Covered Bridge, we made our way to downtown Winterset because as we said before this weekend was the Covered Bridges Festival! They had the courthouse square sectioned off with lots of vendors and food trucks, and all of the shops downtown were open. It was enjoyable, but we were looking forward to more activities especially since we had to pay to get in. It seemed like more of a vendor fair rather than a festival. We did stop by the birthplace of Marion Morrison—better known as John Wayne—but chose not to go to the museum since none of us are huge John Wayne fans 😊 but he is iconic so maybe we’ll come back another time!

What was not a disappointment in Madison County was the Madison County Historical Complex. Not only did this complex have multiple historical buildings to tour, a lot of neat history about Madison County, it also had civil war re-enactments and programs going on throughout the day. We got to watch a civil war skirmish, Travis got to shoot an actual civil war rifle, Elisha got to put on an authentic civil war uniform, and they shot an actual civil war cannon! This alone was worth the trip to Madison County!

 

After watching the civil war skirmish, we headed to Clark Tower. We’ve been there before, but it was still neat to see! 

Of course, we couldn’t pass up the hedge maze at the Madison County Park and the 6th and final covered bridge in Madison County—the Cutler Donahoe Covered Bridge.

We rounded out our day in Madison County at Frostees for some yummy diner food and ice cream for dinner!

Return Rating: 5

• Other things to see/do:
• Howell’s Pumpkin Patch—Cumming
• Old School House Museum—Earlham
• Pockett House Museum—Earlham
• Madison County Conservation Center—Pammel State Park
• Henry C Wallace house—Winterset
• Simple Life Farms—Winterset
• Iowa Quilt Museum—Winterset
• The Iowa Theatre—Winterset
• Winterset Cidery—Winterset
• Rusty’s Alpaca Farm—Winterset
• The Pumpkin Ranch—Winterset