Forge Bridge

Marker No. W-19
New Kent County, VA

Marker Text: The site of Forge Bridge over the Chickahominy River is located about a mile south of here. On 14 June 1862, Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart and his cavalry brigade crossed there on their famous ride around Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac. Because the bridge had been burned in May, Stuart's men first built a makeshift bridge of barn timbers to replace it. On 13-14 June 1864, the VI and IX Corps of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac crossed the river there en route to Petersburg after the Battle of Cold Harbor.

Location: On U.S. Route 60, just east of Chickahominy River bridge, Providence Forge, VA and is grouped with marker W-20 (Providence Forge) near intersection with Route 155. Erected by the Department of Historic Resources in 1998.

  Today is the third marker, I have related to J.E.B. Stuart's ride around McClellan. As indicated on the two previous markers (Stuart's Ride Around McClellan), on June 12, 1862, C.S.A. Brigadier General J.E.B. Stuart left Richmond at the head of a 1,200 cavalry troops apparently going to assist General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia. Stuart did not go to the Shenandoah Valley, instead, at the request of General Robert E. Lee, recently made commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Stuart was on a reconnaissance mission around McClellan's Union army now north and east of Richmond.

  Robert E. Lee was confronting, just outside of the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.) capital city, Richmond, Virginia, a huge Federal army, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of Union General George B. McClellan. Lee planned to attack the Union army's right flank, isolated on the northern side of the Chickahominy River, but he needed to know its disposition.

Gauley Bridge

Fayette County, WV

Marker Text: Here New and Gauley rivers unite to form Great Kanawha River. Piers still stand of old bridge destroyed by the Confederate troops in 1861. Here Thomas Dunn English, author of the ballad, "Ben Bolt", wrote "Gauley River".

Location: On U.S. Route 60 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia.

  Gauley Bridge is a small incorporated municipality in Fayette County located at the confluence of the Gauley and New Rivers, where the two streams join to form the Kanawha River. Gauley Bridge due to its geographic location serves as the eastern gateway to the Kanawha Valley.

  The town achieved notoriety during the Great Depression of the 1930s when hundreds of unemployed workers, many of them Southern blacks, swarmed into Gauley Bridge to take construction jobs. They served as labors on the construction of the nearby Hawks Nest dam and tunnel. The tunnel was driven three miles through Gauley Mountain, and tunnel workers almost immediately began to sicken and die. The cause was silicosis, a disease well known in Europe but not in the United States at that time. The death toll has been estimated at more than 750, making the Hawks Nest disaster among the worst industrial accidents in U.S. history.

  The name Gauley Bridge derived from the presence of a wooden covered bridge used to carry traffic across the Gauley River over the James River & Kanawha Turnpike which came through here beginning in the early 1820s. Gauley Bridge being the eastern gateway to the Kanawha Valley was of strategic importance during the Civil War.

The Stone Bridge

Fairfax County, VA
Marker No. C-23

Marker Text: Originally built of native sandstone in 1825, the turnpike bridge over Bull Run became an important landmark in the Civil War battles at Manassas.  Union Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler's division feigned an attack on Col. Nathan G. Evans's brigade guarding the bridge as the First Battle of Manassas began on the morning of 21 July 1861. When the confederates withdrew from the region, they blew up the bridge on 9 Mar. 1862. The rear guard of Maj. Gen. John Pope's retreating army, defeated at the Second Battle of Manassas on 30 Aug. 1862, destroyed a replacement military bridge at the site. Fully reconstructed after the war, it remained in use into the 1920s.

Location: West of Centreville, VA, on U.S. Route 29 (Lee Highway) west of County Route 609 (Bull Run Post Office Road), on the north side of the road. Grouped with marker Z-169 (Fairfax/Prince William County).  Erected by the Department of Historic Resources in 2000.

Photo taken on Route 29 looking west toward the Stone Bridge at the Prince William/Fairfax County line.

  This marker is actually 0.4 miles east of the Stone Bridge and is in Fairfax County and the bridge is in Prince William County. Makes one wonder why they did not place it closer to the bridge. The first shots on the morning of July 21, 1861 occurred at this bridge. With the Union troops on the east of the bridge and the Confederates on the west side. Though one can imagine Brigadier General Daniel Tyler's division marching past this point along the road on their way to the Stone Bridge. Tyler's troops were to give the Confederate troops the impression that the Union forces were going to force a crossing here at the Stone Bridge.

  The Stone Bridge crosses the stream called Bull Run, just a few miles north of the Manassas junction. Bull Run with banks too steep to ford just anywhere, it was crossable only at a stone bridge on the road to Warrenton and at a handful of fords. (A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle.)

Natural Bridge

Rockbridge County, VA

Marker No. A-72

Marker Text: Natural Bridge holds a unique place in American history as one of the natural wonders and first tourist attractions in the New World. Artists and illustrators popularized its image. This natural semielliptical arch is made of limestone carved by nature over millions of years and is approximately 200 feet high. The Monacan Indians held the site sacred and worshiped there. Thomas Jefferson obtained a land grant on 5 July 1774 to preserve it and to ensure the public could visit it. Natural Bridge was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1997 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998.

Location: On U.S. Route 11 (South Lee Highway) south of VA Route 130 (Rockbridge Road) Natural Bridge, VA in front of Natural Bridge Visitors Center.  Erected by the Department of Historic Resources in 2000.

  A person coming to visit the Natural Bridge in Virginia might not be aware that they are actually coming to probably one of the first tourist attractions in the U.S. dating back to the time of Thomas Jefferson.

  Deemed the “Bridge of God” by Monacan Indians, the Bridge has a rich spiritual history for Native Americans dating back over 300 years.

Meem's Bottom Covered Bridge

Shenandoah County, VA

Marker No. AB-1

Marker Text: Built in 1892 by Franklin Hiser Wissler to provide access to his apple orchards at Strathmore Farms, this is the longest remaining covered bridge in Virginia. A 200-foot single span located one-half mile northwest, the bridge is a Burr Truss design, a combination of arch with vertical and diagonal supports. All construction materials were obtained locally. Damaged by arsonists in 1976, the bridge was restored and reopened in 1979.

Location: On U.S. Route 11, (Old Valley Pike) 0.2 miles south of Route 720 (Wissler Road), south of Mount Jackson. Erected by the Department of Historic Resources in 1989.

  When you come across a marker which tells us about an historical bridge, that bridge is often about a covered bridge. The Meem's Bottom Covered Bridge is the longest timber covered bridge remaining in Virginia and the only one bearing vehicular traffic on the state system.

Castleman's River Bridge (Formerly “Little Youghiogeny”)

Garrett County, MD

Marker Text: Erected 1813 by David Shriver, Jr., Sup't of the "Cumberland Road" (The National Road). This 80 foot span was the largest stone arch in America at the time. It was continuously used from 1813 to 1933.

Location: Marker is east of Grantsville, Maryland, in Garrett County. Marker is on Casselman Road near The National Pike (U.S. 40). Casselman Road was the original alignment of the National Road leading to the bridge. It stops at the east end of the bridge where the marker can be found. Erected by State Roads Commission. Marker has different text on each side, title and text for reverse side is as follows:  (There is an identical marker on the other end of the bridge.)

“The Little Crossings”  (of the Little Youghiogeny River now Called Castleman's River)

Marker Text: The "Little Crossings" of the Little Youghiogeny River, now called Castleman's River). So called by George Washington when he crossed on June 19, 1755, with General Edward Braddock on the ill-fated expedition to Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh).

   During my travels I have come across bridges similar to this bridge and until I started to look for them did I realize how many of these old bridges exist throughout the U.S. Most of these bridges are no longer used and therefore are historic relics of our past that lie off the main roads many overgrown and forgotten near the newer bridges that replaced them. When the leaves are off the trees you can see this bridge from Interstate 68 when you drive on the east side of Grantsville, MD. I have seen it while traveling in the west bound lane of the interstate, of course, it is easily seen from Alternate U.S. Route 40.

Duck Run Suspension Bridge, Gilmer County, WV

Marker Text: 1922-1992. Funds raised and labor provided by Duck Run & Bear Run citizens Summers, Keith, Bush, Floyd Langford, Hess, Hardman, Divers, Simmons, Clovis, Wilfong, Wright. Engineers: Fred Lewis & Wm Moss. Wire cables and steel came from Roebling Co. & Bethlehem Steel. Deck lumber & concrete for towers, locals. Span 350 ft, 7 in; width 11’ 6 . Placed on National Register in 1997.

Location: On WV Route 5, near junction with County Route 30, near the town of Trubada, three miles east of Glenville, WV.

Erected by the Gilmer Co. Historical Society and West Virginia Division of Archives and History in 2000.

   The bridge served the community for 70 years, being completed in 1922 and closed in 1992. Before its construction, you had to cross the river by driving through the water of the river from one bank to the next. These were called river fords, “fords” were these types of crossings and is seen on many markers particularly as they relate to the Civil War. You can still encounter these roads in rural sections of West Virginia today. Following World War 1, there was an attempt to improve the nation's roads in the “National Good Roads Movement,” the first national attempt to provide paved all weather roads in rural areas.

   What makes this bridge interesting this the fact that its construction was supported by the local residents raising money through yard sales, cake walks, raffles, etc and the construction through supported by two county engineers was provided by local volunteers. I am confident that this is not the only rural bridge constructed this way, but it is the first one I have encountered. It is my understanding that similar bridges once existed throughout West Virginia crossing the states many rivers. Other bridges have since been replaced and removed. I would guess that this bridge remained because of its remote location and the fact that the replacement bridge was constructed upstream and it was not necessary to remove the older bridge for its construction.

   The Duck Run Cable Suspension Bridge (also called the Trubada Swing Bridge) spans the Little Kanawha River between WV Routes 5 and 30, used to connect these two roads. The bridge was replaced in 1992 by a new concrete bridge about 500 feet upstream of the suspension bridge.

   The overall length of the bridge is 350 feet 7 inches with the center span being 209 feet 9 inches. The two wire cables are supported by four reinforced concrete towers, two on each bank of the river.

   The wire rope and all the fittings when the bridge was built were readily available from wire rope dealers. Wire rope at the time was developed for a wide variety of industrial uses and was available from companies such as Roebling and Bethlehem Steel. The timber bridge deck consists of 4 inch by 8 inch wooden planks laid flat and supported by pairs of 3 inch by 12 inch wood floor beams, 14 feet 1 inch long. These pairs of beams are in turn supported by vertical wire rope suspenders. The curb width is 10 feet, 9 inches while the overall deck width is 11 feet 6 inches. The timber for the bridge was obtained locally and the concrete for the towers was made on-site. Originally the bridge had no railings, but were added later. According to documents in 1997, there were plans to develop a recreational area around the bridge and open it for pedestrians, when I was taking these photos in 2008, there was some movement in that direction but not really well developed. The bridge seems in good condition despite its age and lack of maintenance.