Kansas has a covered bridge, and it’s not actually a bridge. How did that come to be?

About 20 years ago a resident of McPherson, Kansas by the name of Jim Elliott was a frequent visitor of Gamekeeper’s Marsh seven miles south of Courtland where he hunted ducks each season. Having noticed the ruins of a limestone house sitting on a rise to the east of the marsh, he thought it would be a great place to build a home. He thought the view to the west would be beautiful, offering wildlife and magnificent sunsets to whoever lived there. He negotiated the purchase of the most elevated ten acres and began to turn his dream into reality.

Over the following 12 years the dream and its construction kept growing and growing until it included not just the original small cabin – a small building with an efficiency apartment above a one car garage – but two more residences and a large shop building.

After importing a real log cabin made in British Columbia, dismantled and trucked to Kansas then reassembled by a local construction crew, Jim built a four-bedroom guest lodge. The lodge was built so each room had its own shower, sink, and toilet. Decorated in the rustic style of a hunting cabin with mounted deer heads, duck decoys, and lots of knotty pine, it rivals anything one might find amongst the remote lakes of Minnesota or Wisconsin. The view from the back deck is spectacular.

Then, wanting to add something unusual to the entrance onto the property Jim “iced the cake” with a 60-foot covered bridge. It wasn’t that he needed a bridge, because there was nothing to cross. No river, not even a creek. He just thought it would be a cool thing to have as an entrance to the place. He was right.

Not content with just a bridge, Jim added a cherry to the icing on his cake – a clock tower with three clock faces six feet in diameter – one facing north, one east, and one south. The bridge has become a popular landmark locally, with frequent visitors who like using it as a scenic backdrop for photographs.

Jim and Lynn Elliott sold the property a year ago moving to Wichita to be closer to their grandkids. The new owners, Mike and Kili Land, intend to continue to offer lodging and folks are more than welcome to visit the Jim Elliott Bridge.

Information on availability and rates is available at snowgooselodge.com, you may email at info@snowgooselodge.com or you may call at (785) 374-9201.

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