This Bridge appeared in the Movie Bridges of Madison County
Cedar Covered Bridge, Winterset, Madison County Iowa
H.P. Jones constructed a number of covered bridges in the Winterset region, five of which remain. Although his structures were based upon Ithiel Town's lattice plan, popular in New England, Jones added details uniquely his own. Richard S. Allen (1970) writes: For substructure, Jones used caisson piers, and he buttressed the sides of his spans with taut cut rods attached to protruding floor beams. Inside, his single-web lattices were usually given the extra reinforcement of auxiliary arches, queenposts, or a combination of the two. Jones' most startling innovation was the virtual elimination of the conventional high-pitched roof. His bridges are tightly weather-boarded to the eaves, and their roofs have only a very slight pitch. These square tubular covered bridges in Iowa have a unique appearance duplicated only in a few other places in the world.
In Robert Waller's novel, which was made into a movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep in 1995, the Cedar Bridge is where Francesca Johnson meets photographer Robert Kincaid. Thousands of tourists have visited Madison County since the book's publication in 1992.
Oprah Winfrey was so smitten with the novel that she brought her talk show to the Cedar Bridge for a live broadcast in 1993.
Madison County holds a covered bridge festival each October.
On September 3rd, 2002 the bridge was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt in 2004.
Bridge Description
The bridge has a span of 70 feet, with approaches for an overall length of 140 feet. It has a flat-top wood roof covered with tarred metal. Construction includes the use of the Town lattice, a crisscross web of planks, with additional diagonal-horizontal supports on each side, held together with metal bolts. The basic structure is of native lumber, including plank flooring. The slightly arched bridge rests on steel tube pilings at each end. The outside cover is of 6-inch boards painted red with white trim.
Until 1920 this bridge crossed Cedar Creek about a mile north of Winterest. When highway 169 was routed on this road, the bridge was moved down the creek about a mile on another road, two miles northeast of Winterset.
In 1964, the bridge was bypassed, and replaced by a steel and concrete bridge. The Cedar Covered Bridge still spans Cedar Creek, just below Cedar Lake Dam, where a twenty-acre park has been created by the county. This is a scenic area surrounded by wooded hills.
It was renovated in 1998 at a cost of $128,073.
