- Begin the day at Madison County Chamber of Commerce’s Welcome Center, located at 73 Jefferson Street on Winterset’s town square, where you will meet your step-on tour guide. The Welcome Center is also where you’ll find public restrooms, souvenirs and locally-made products, including bottles of wine from all three of Madison County’s wineries.
- Start your two-hour guided tour ($10.00/per person) at Winterset’s City Park, home of the Cutler-Donahue Covered Bridge and an English Hedge Maze, among many other attractions. Next stop is the Cedar Covered Bridge, which is illustrated on the cover of the book. Lastly, you will ride out to the Roseman Covered Bridge, which figured prominently in the book and movie.
- Return to Winterset’s town square where you will tour the brand new Iowa Quilt Museum, located in the old J.C.Penney building. The museum offers changing exhibits—three to four per year—of American quilts both vintage and new. Check the museum’s website to see the theme of their current exhibit. Admission is $6.00/per person.
- Enjoy lunch as a group or on your own in one of our many restaurants, or have a catered gourmet soup lunch by Heidi’s Kitchen brought into your workspace. Make special arrangements to have Marianne Fons of Fons & Porter speak to your group!
- Shop at Ben Franklin and Piece Works Quilt Shop for supplies, then get to work in Piece Work’s upstairs meeting room which can house approximately 24 guests. You are free to work there until midnight each day, and start the next morning as early as 6:00 am.
- Choose from our many dining options for dinner. Madison County has many options for lodging available, including the 39-room Cobblestone Inn, the Covered Bridge Inn, as well as several charming B&Bs, and a 3-bedroom lake house to rent by the night. See lodging options here.
*Based on the results of a community-wide tourism survey conducted in May 2016 by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce.
Click here to download a printable version of our Quilting Retreat Itinerary.