The Bridges of Parke County

An October 2008 trip to Indiana by jmariep

Rockville Courthouse Photo - Covered Bridge Festival , Indiana, United States

Quote: We took the day to travel down to Parke County, Indiana for the Covered Bridge Festival. I never dreamed that it would be so much fun, nor would see such simple beauty.

26 Photos

Covered Bridge Tour -- Blue Route

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "A Terrific Thirty Twisting Miles of Interesting Roads"

Narrows Bridge Photo - Indiana, United States

Quote:

Before you begin this trip, make sure you get a map from the Old Railroad Depot. The map indicated that the Blue Route is 30 miles and has 5 covered bridges. Technically I would say that it has 5 1/2.
We began our journey from Ohio Street in Rockville, where I was relieved to learn that there are arrows on signs with the color of the tour you are taking. So we followed the blue arrows into the country roads.
Growing up in Ohio, my mother would sometimes say that Indiana doesn't have great roads because they spend their money on education. If my mother's addage is true, Parke County must have some of the best educated children in the state of Indiana, if not the country.
We drove to the first bridge which was on the perimeter of Turkey Run State Park. On the way we drove past an Amish Family's house, and saw Amish children playing what looked like Pat-A-Cake. As cheesy as is sounds, we both smiled, and felt like it was a great omen.
The Narrow's Bridge made us both stop and reconnect with nature. There was no parking places, and a sign that said no parking on the side of the road. We joined a few cars and completely ignored the sign. The Narrows Bridge didn't seem that narrow, but it was nice and long. Walking through it did give me a sense of unstability, not because of the structure, but the cracks in the bottom made my equalibrium a little off. You could go down to the river view on both sides of the bridge that both provided great views. There are several warnings not to swim, and my husband laughed at the old rope hanging from the bridge -- "No more rope to swing from now." There were also several people's names carved into rocks.
Very close to this bridge it the Sugar Valley Canoe Camp, and I did notice a very large teepee if you have a couple of minutes to strike a pose.
We backtracked back and got to the Cox Ford bridge. The great thing about this bridge was that there was a parking area. The crazy thing was that this bridge is a bridge you actually drive through it. We stopped and took pictures, and this is where I had 2 "aha" moments. The first was that I began to feel like Robert Kincaid in "Bridges of Madison County" photographing covered bridges; as I stood next to a couple with a hugh fancy camera with a tripod I had the second realization -- I'm a plain girl with a Kodak Easy Share.
As we drove through the Cox Ford towards the Wilkins Mill, my husband and I marvelled at the fact that the bridge was still open to cars. Aren't covered bridges now called tunnels?
We found the Wilkens Mill to be a little dull compared to the first two. There was no access to the water, and no parking. It's pretty much a stop, park illegally and take a quick picture.
It is important to note that the 2 1/2 bridges after this point are on both the yellow and blue tours. If you are doing the bridge tour during a non busy day, I would reccomend going to the Jackson Bridge, adn finishing the yellow tour backwards. I'll get into the last 1/2 bridge later to explain why it may not even be worth it. However, I was there on a busy week, so we followed the directions.
As we drove to the Rush Creek Bridge , I had to smile at the gravel road. My husband drove about twenty miles an hour, and all we heard was the pings and dings of rocks flyign back up at the bottom of the truck. It was a tiny bridge, but I loved it. The water was low, so we were able to walk across on the bridge, and cross back on the creek. And I do have to apologize ... we stepped across on a heart shaped rock ... and it somehow ended up in the bed of our truck.
After the Rush Creek Bridge, you have to turn around and backtrack about a mile or so to head to the Jackson Bridge. This bridge was the largest of the bridges, also a drive through, and seemed to be the most recently updated. After crossing the bridge, there is a possibly legal parking area. There were chains that could block off the area, but they were down. There was a picnic area here that I could see people having a get together at, but there were no picnic tables or restrooms. This bridge had fresh paint, fresh wood, and smelled great. My husband said that it smelled like a horse barn; to me it smelled like a lumber yard.
The final bridge on this route -- which I consider a half bridge -- is on the Parke County Country Club. We spent 10 minutes trying to find it, and finally saw it from the road, but couldn't get a decent picture.
When I first saw that this was a 30 mile tour, I thought that it may take 45 minutes. I was wrong. I would say to plan for at least an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half for this tour. I did not anticipate the back roads, which were narrow, and sometimes barely paved. Please do not take that as a complaint in any way. The views of the trees on the drive are absolutely beautiful, and there are gorgeous homes to see too.
I loved taking this driving tour. My husband and I had time to talk, take pictures, and just relax. If you are in the area and the weather is good, please stop to at least one bridge. If you are in the area and it's snowy, keep going!
Enjoy! Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 16, 2008

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Covered Bridge Festival

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Attraction | "Floating Leaves Under Covered Bridges"

Quote:

My husband and I were fortunate enough to both get a Wednesday off, and needed to go to Brazil that night, so I grabbed my Indiana bag (with all of the tourism brochures I have collected from Indiana) and flipped through them. Rockville is in the county North of Brazil, and it just happened to be the week of the Covered Bridge Festival. Score!
We arrived at Rockville with no idea of what to expect. My main goal was to see the bridges and take some fun fall pictures. I was more than more than pleasantly surprised when we arrived to Rockville. The only dissatisfaction that I did have with this festival is that you really do need 2 days if you're planning to do the bridge tours -- and really, that's pretty much the opposite of dissatisfying.
We were able to park when we first got into town (arriving from the East on highway 36.) The cost was $2, although we could have been big spenders, and parked 2 blocks closer for $3. We parked across the street from The Old Railroad Depot.
There were a lot of booths and food stands set up along the street. The food varied greatly. After we both enjoyed my carnie fave corn dog, and shared a bottle of water ($8) we passed the American Legion's stand that had Chicken Noodle dinners. They were serving a small lunch for $4 or a full dinner for $6. We talked about getting that for dinner, but the day got away from us.
Around the courthouse there are many huge tents set up, shaped in a "C" around the courthouse, with more food vendors set up in the back, making the "C" almost a "D." There was awesome food there. Strawberry shortcake, pork chops, liver and onions, corn on the cob. It was a heaven of my childhood dreams (except for the liver.) The festival is open for 10 days, and one could easily go every night, get a different meal each night, and go home happy.
The booths in the tent sold a variety of items, from jewelry, furs, soaps, local food, and covered bridge shirts, calendars, postcards and books. Prices varied greatly, but seemed to be decent deals. I am not the big shopper, though I do regret not getting a covered bridge book.
The stores around the town square also had displays in the street. There was an amazing wooden furniture store, but they did not allow pictures of the furniture. Since they had furniture outside, I didn't want to try to photograph the front of the store.
The festival seemed very well attended to me, especially for a Wednesday afternoon, but as I walked through the very warm tents, I overheard a man talking on his cell phone and commenting that there was not as many people here as normal.
The best part of the festival for me was driving the bridge tours. They have a bus tour available for $10 an adult. I was disapointed to find out that the last Wednesday tour was at 2, but found that I was probably happier driving it on my own.
If you have lived in the Southwestern part of Indiana for more than 3 years, you have very little excuse not to have gone to this festival. I live Northwest of Indy, and made the drive, and it was great. Make sure to do at least one bridge tour, but be aware they are not quick drives. So, mark your calendar for the for the second Friday of October, grab your camera, and have fun. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on October 15, 2008

Covered Bridge Festival
Courthouse Lawn
Rockville, IN