Historic Bluff Country Scenic Byway

The southeast bluff country of Minnesota is strikingly picturesque, a landscape of wooded bluffs, limestone cliffs, and streams winding through rural valleys. But it wasn’t really “discovered” by tourists until the Root River Trail was developed in the 1980s and lured thousands of cyclists to its secluded scenic pathway. But if you haven’t been to this corner of the state lately, you might be surprised by all you find there now.

The pretty river city of Winona is a northern gateway to Bluff Country. In addition to its scenic setting and bounty of late 19th-century architecture, the city is now something of an arts center, too. The Great River Shakespeare Festival started up a few years ago, and offers “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Merchant of Venice” this summer, June 27 to July 27. The new Beethoven Festival runs July 1-20. Visit the new Minnesota Marine Art Museum along the Mississippi River, and check for concerts put on by the Theatre du Mississippi.

In other news on the arts front, the Commonweal Theatre Company, one of the top rural theaters in the country, will enjoy its first full season in its new state-of-the-art theater in the village of Lanesboro. Its 2008 season includes a spring production of “Peer Gynt,” followed by “Harvey” and “Antigone” in the summer and fall.

This pastoral countryside has drawn many artists to work and live here, and the Bluff Country Studio Art Tour April 25-27 is a chance to visit them in their studios. A gallery in Lanesboro carries the work of many of these artists, and the work of local Amish artisans can be purchased on Amish farm tours and in shops in Harmony.

This area is also home to one of Minnesota’s most unique state parks. At Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park west of Preston, you can take a naturalist-guided tour of an underground cave and, above ground, visit a general store that remains from an 1850s village.

Three Minnesota Scenic Byways travel the beautiful countryside of southeast Minnesota: Great River Road, following Hwy. 61 through Winona along the Mississippi River; Apple Blossom Drive meandering the bluff tops above the river, out of LaCrescent; and Historic Bluff Country, following Hwy. 16 west from LaCrescent past Spring Valley.

And what of the Root River Trail itself? Over the years it has grown into a 42-mile, smooth asphalt pathway that winds along the river between Fountain and Houston, and connects with the 18-mile Harmony-Preston Valley Trail. A 400-foot section of the Root River Trail between Lanesboro and Whalen washed out in the heavy floods of August, 2007. But this break in the trail has been reconstructed and should be repaved by June 30, 2008. But even while this section is being repaved, there are plenty of miles of trail open on either side of this short stretch of trail. (For an update, go to www.rootrivertrail.org.)

For more info on this area: www.visitwinona.com or www.bluffcountry.com.

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