Category Archives: Nature

Sutliff Bridge

Few things are as good as an ice cold beer on a sweltering summer afternoon. Except maybe drinking that ice cold beer on a historic bridge with a good friend you haven’t seen in a long time. And maybe that is why I like the Sutliff Bridge so much, and why I keep thinking about it. Cold beer, good friends and a healthy serving or two of fried food.

The Sutliff Bridge spans the Cedar River in Johnson County. At one end is a dirt trail leading back to the main road, which was diverted at some point. At the other end is the Sutliff Tavern. The tavern is old, has obvious additions, and there’s a long row of motorcycles out front. The Tavern has a great porch that on a cool summer evening would be great to drink a cold Leinie while listening to .38 Special or Lynyrd Skynyrd (or a great local band that sounds like Lynyrd Skynyrd) while watching the current slip by. There’s probably $10,000 taped to the ceiling. We had several servings of fried pickles and veggies, and then took our second beers out on to the bridge.

Sutliff Bridge with Tavern
Sutliff Bridge with Tavern

The bridge is a steel truss with 3 spans, originally built in 1898 to replace a ferry service rendered inoperable by the sandbars forming in the river. It is a pedestrian bridge now, replaced by a more modern concrete one further upstream. The community purchased the bridge from the County in the 1980’s, recently restored it after severe flooding destroyed one span in 2008. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is a well-loved bridge.

The river was low and still. The heat so strong that my beer was warm by the time I was half way across the bridge. Upstream, the sand bar was exposed and teenagers sat in the river, apparently the water too low to swim. An immature Bald Eagle flew lazily overhead.

I could have stayed for hours, but the beer grew warm. We headed off to a farm stand to buy some of the best corn I have ever tasted in my life. Good friends, great conservation on a cool bridge, and a perfect Midwestern day.