WILLOW ISLAND — Lying just south of Interstate 80 in western Dawson County is a scenic road lined with cottonwood trees that provides a colorful drive as the leaves begin to change colors.
Willow Island Road runs from south of Gothenburg and flanks the Platte River to the south and Interstate 80 to the north and terminates south of Willow Island at Road 416.
The gravel roadway would be like any other in rural Nebraska, except that the entire path is lined with cottonwood trees that often canopy the roadway. The trees closely line the road and seem to create a tunnel in different sections.
The entire scene undergoes a color change during the fall as the days begin to shorten and the leaves on the trees begin to change to various shades of yellow.
Willow Island itself is an unincorporated community, originally laid down in the 1880s. At the time, willow trees on a nearby island in the Platte River were abundant and this is what gave the community its name.
