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EXPLORING
KENTUCKY - October 2003 by Katherine Tandy Brown Kissin'
Bridge Capital of Kentucky
“A lot of old-imers call them kissing bridges because many claim they got their first kiss on a covered bridge,” Fleming County extension agent Donna Fryman chuckles. “You can kind of hide in them.” First built in the 1790s, covered bridges were a practical idea – using a roof to protect fragile wooden timbers from weather. Third-generation covered bridge builder Louis Stockton ‘Stock’ Bower explains that without a roof, wooden timbers rot quickly. And thanks to his – and his forefathers’ – expertise at building and repairing covered bridges, Fleming County today claims three of the state’s 13 remaining spans. All 13 are on the National Register of Historic Places. “These structures are a real engineering feat,” explains Mary Jo Litton, economic development director for the Flemingsburg-Fleming County Chamber of Commerce. “They were entirely put together with hand tools and wooden pegs.” At Fleming County’s Goddard White Bridge – the only surviving example of the Ithiel town lattice truss design in the state – those handmade pegs (also called treenails) still join thick hand-hewn timbers. Restored under Stock Bower’s supervision in 1968, the 63-foot span – which is still open to traffic – crosses Sand Lick Creek and frames the quaint Goddard Methodist Church, creating an idyllic picture. A thriving mid-1800s Fleming County gristmill was responsible for the names of both a community and the Ringos Mill Bridge. Built in 1867 using a Burr truss design, it stretches 89 feet across Fox Creek. This span was restored in 1984 by another Flemingsburg native, L.A. Thompson, who worked with Bower.
Stop at the Ringos Mill Bridge “sit a spell” on benches handcrafted by the local Amish. For a complete a day trip, pick up a map of area Amish on-farm businesses at the Chamber of Commerce and enjoy the smell the new-mown hay as you drive through immaculate cropland. You can also peruse scores of lovely quilts, rugs and baskets in private homes. For fresh-baked bread and luscious homemade pies, follow your nose to Yoder’s Country Market. At Mennonite-owned Greenbrook Country Store nearby, you’ll find beautiful handmade furniture and wooden toys, leather purses, tune-playing clocks, country ham sandwiches, hand-dipped ice cream, and large porch rockers. Nearly identical to Ringos Mill bridge, and probably built between 1865 and 1870 by the same unknown artisan, the Grange City Bridge is the county’s third. Also crossing Fox Creek, this 86-foot long single span has flooded several times, the highest water mark painted at 7’4” in white on its yellow pine timbers. Sadly, the county’s fourth covered bridge could not be saved. Built in1867-68, the Bridge over the Licking River was completely destroyed by a set fire in 1981. Flemingsburg celebrates these marvelous works of craftsmanship each August at its annual Covered Bridge Festival. Chosen in 2003 as one of Southeast Tourism’s “Top 20 Events in the Southeast” for the third year in a row, this shindig offers all the food you can gobble up, traditional crafts demos, live Bluegrass, gospel, folk and barbershop music, and county characters relating histories and anecdotes at each bridge. You can tour the Fleming County bridges
on special buses or on your own. (KDOT plans major work on all three
structures in the near future, so be sure to call before you go.) To
arrange a group tour, get directions to all bridges in the state, or
find out general bridge info, call the Flemingsburg-Fleming County Chamber
of Commerce at (606) 845-1223.
Katherine Tandy
Brown is a staff writer for The Lane Report. |
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Copyright 1996-2003, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2003, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
Just
as evinced in the wildly popular novel, The Bridges of Madison County,
covered bridges conjure up nostalgic visions of tree-lined country lanes,
horse-drawn carriages, and perhaps a mid-bridge pause for a brief romantic
interlude.
Glassworks