The Backroads Traveler: Some Covered Bridges

 Watson's Mill Covered Bridge, Watson's Mill Bridge State Park, Madison County.

 I've long been fascinated by old things. As I wrote in the preamble to one of my books, I am a visual historian of an earlier America. . .old houses, old churches, old courthouses, old mills, covered bridges, and historic sites.

Some of my interest in bridges may have been kindled by the fact that I went to high school about a mile from the Williams Covered Bridge, at 402 feet the longest in Indiana. In those days, the bridge was in daily use on a well-traveled road.

The Watson's Mill Covered Bridge, by comparison, is only 229 feet long, but it's the longest one left in Georgia. (In years past, there were longer ones, including one that crossed the Chattahoochee River at Columbus.) Spanning the South Fork of the Broad River, it was built in 1885 by W.W. King, son of the freed slave and legendary bridge builder, Horace King. The bridge is in daily use by visitors to the Watson's Mill Bridge State Park.

Howard Covered Bridge, Chandler-Silver Road, Oglethorpe County.

Only six miles by road from Watson's Mill Bridge is the one I call "the bridge to nowhere."

Built in 1904 across Big Cloud Creek in a now-isolated part of Oglethorpe County, Howard's Covered Bridge is 164 feet long and of Town lattice truss design. The original builder was probably J. M. "Pink" Hunt. 

Walking across the bridge to the other end, I found. . .nothing! It is truly the bridge to nowhere, because whatever was at the other end has long since been obliterated.  

Cromer's Mill Covered Bridge, Franklin County.

 

Cromer's Mill Covered Bridge is much longer than this picture would seem to indicate, carrying Baker Road 110 feet over Nail's Creek. It was built in 1907, using the Town lattice truss design like the Howard bridge, and was also built by J. M. "Pink" Hunt, who seems to have been a busy man.

 

In 1845 the Cromer family built a woolen mill on the creek and operated it until the Civil War. Later the site became, successively, a cotton gin, grist mill, and saw mill. 

 

All these bridges are listed on Google Maps if you would like to visit them.

 

About the equipment: The Watson's Mill bridge and the Cromer's Mill bridge were photographed with a Canon EOS 5D Classic and a Canon EF 24-85mm lens. An Olympus E-M5 with a Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm lens was used for the Howard bridge.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail me a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

If you would like to have a print of one of my photographs, check out my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  If you don't find what you want there, let me know and I'll arrange to include it in the gallery.

Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography    travel     Georgia   Canon EOS 5D camera      Canon EF 24-85mm lens   digital photography      covered bridges    Olympus E-M5 camera     Panasonic 14-140mm lens