Thursday, July 12, 2012

Historical Meems Bottom Covered Bridge

 

Meems_Covered_Bridge Not many of the old covered bridges are in use today but my daughter and I ran across this one near Mount Jackson in the Shenandoah area Virginia. I discovered that is had been rebuilt.

Meems_Covered_Bridge4

One of the best-known covered bridges is the 204-foot single-span Burr arch truss known as Meem's Bottom Covered Bridge in Mount Jackson. The Meem's Bottom Bridge was constructed in 1892-93 from materials cut and quarried nearby for the massive arch supports and stone abutments, which extended 10 feet below the riverbed. It was deeded to the Highway Department in the 1930's in return for assuming its maintenance.
This long span over the North Fork of the river carried traffic for more than 80 years before being burned by vandals on Halloween 1976. After salvaging the original timbers, the bridge was reconstructed and eventually undergirded with steel beams and concrete piers. The bridge was reopened to traffic in 1979 and is still in operation to date.

Meems_Bridge_SwimmingHole
Below the bridge in the creek is where all of the fun was going on.
One was inner tubing and the other was fishing. I do not think both works well together but it was probably just the being in the water on a hot day that mattered.

 

 

1 comment:

  1. You live in such a beautiful area, the bridge how wonderful to see. I imagine those boys were having fun in that water, makes me envious of those times!

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