Parke County Covered Bridges · covered bridges
Parke County Covered Bridges
Parke County calls itself the Covered Bridge Capital of the World, and with 31 historic spans clustered around Rockville it earns the title for an RV road trip. The oldest, Portland Mills, dates to 1856, and the county lays out marked driving routes that thread the bridges together (a few, like Bridgeton, are modern rebuilds). Time your trip for the 10-day Covered Bridge Festival (Oct 9-18, 2026), which always kicks off the second Friday of October when the surrounding hardwoods turn. It's an easy base-and-loop region where you park the rig and explore each bridge on foot.
Best season
Best in early-to-mid October when fall foliage peaks; the 10-day Covered Bridge Festival runs Oct 9-18, 2026 (always starts the 2nd Friday of October)
Bridges & era
31 historic covered bridges · Oldest 1856 (Portland Mills)
Where
Rockville and surrounding Parke County, west-central Indiana
Nearest RV base
Turkey Run State Park campground near Marshall, IN, sits in the heart of bridge country and is a practical RV base for touring the county's marked bridge routes.
Drive it safely
These are 19th- and early-20th-century timber structures with strict weight and height limits — do not attempt to drive your RV through a historic covered bridge. Park well clear, walk in to photograph, and treat every span as a fragile landmark, not a through-route.
Plan the route with the official source: Parke County, Indiana — Official Covered Bridges Tourism .