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THE
BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY filming locations
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CREDITS
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The
nearest America has come to David
Lean's Brief Encounter,
with tight-assed mid-West puritanism standing in for
buttoned-up English repression.
Madison County is a real district of Iowa
(itís the birthplace of John
Wayne), and the bridges are for real too. Youíll
find them in the area of Winterset,
the town Francesca Johnson (Streep)
visits to buy her new frock, and where scarlet woman
Lucy is ostracised by the locals.
Winterset is about 30 miles southwest of Des Moines,
on I-169. The unique bridges were covered by order of
the county, using cheap lumber to protect the expensive
flooring timbers. Of the original 19, which were named
for the closest resident, only six remain.
The bridges seen in the movie are are the Roseman
Bridge, built in 1883, which Robert Kincaid
(Clint Eastwood)
is trying to find when he calls on Francesca's farmhouse
and where the ashes are scattered, and the longest,
the Holliwell Bridge
over Middle River southeast of Winterset, where the
pair meet up after the visit to Winterset.
Francescaís farmhouse was an abandoned ruin in the northeast
of the county, renovated for the movie. Itís been kept
as a tourist attraction, open from May to October (admission
charge). The cafe is the Northside
Cafe, Winterset.
The general store is M Young
& Co feed store building. A closed Conoco
gas station became the 1965 Texaco station ‚ itís now
the Memory Station gift shop. The Blue Note Lounge filmed
inside Wintersetís Corner Tavern
(though the exterior is another building).
The stone bridge, where Francesca and Robert enjoy a
picnic getaway, can be found in Wintersetís City
Park, just south of the Cutler-Donahue covered
bridge. The river crossing, where Francescaís children
discuss her diaries, is Pammel
State Park, southwest of Winterset.
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FILMING
LOCATIONS FOR THE
BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
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