OLD COVERED GRIDGE SERVES OUT IT'S TIME

The "Covered Bridge" on the Christiansburg Turnpike, now Route 615 is being razed by the Highway Department and a temporay bridge is now being used. The bridge now 94 years old was used by the soilders in the war between the States.The structure is located five miles northeast of Floyd Court House and the original construction contained two thousand wooden pegs which were used in place of the modern day nail.

( the above was under a picture of the bridge which didn't copy well enough to try to scan)


It is with regret to many of our older citizenry that it has become necessary to tear down what has always been know as the "Covered Bridge", one of the yet few yet standing in Virginia.of the antie-bellium days The attached article, written in 1933 and copied by the State Highway Department will doubtless be read with interest by our older citizens and of many of our younger ones---Editors Notes.

FLOYD Dec 26 ( special)

Spanning Little River five miles northeast of the Town of Floyd, on what was known in early history as the Christiansburg Road now 615 stands a bridge locally known as "The Covered Bridge" one of the few built in the ante-bellium days yet in use.
In the early history of this County travel was mainly directed this way.
Christiansburg was some 21 miles distant being the railroad center from which all merchandise must be hauled for the merchants and farmers living in the county, transportation being by horseback and wagons drawn by horses and oxen.

FORD WAS A BARRIER

The ford here became a perilous undertaking in the winter or in times of high water, and when, in 1840 the fact that a contract had been awarded to two local masons. Gill and Toncray, to build the stone work of the bridge, completed in 1850 must have caused the pioneer citizens to breathe a sigh of relief; for here, the river banks were steep, the river rapid and mud unfathomable after a hard rain.
Granville Montgomery, a county carpenter, was granted a contract for the framework, begun in 1851 and finished in 1852. He soon after built a similar structure over Big Reed Island in Caroll County. Design for the bridge was made by Captian Moses Dickerson, an uncle of the late Marle Dickerson of Poff, a local carpenter also.
All timber used was hewen by hand and fastened together with wooden pins which were made uniform by driving them through an iron mold having various sized holes, also hand made. Every pin of this project, and there were literally thousands of them was made by Captian Moses Dickerson and his father. Wesley Gardner, a veteran of the War Between the States, now living in Willis Ridge says that he assisted his father Alexander Gardner, one of the carpenters in the building of the original structure, patch the floor and the roof, many years ago.
He further says there is not a man now living who assisted in the erection of the orginial structure.
In those days the road leading here was little more than a bridle path with deep gullies on either side. Streams in rainy weather were almost impassable, deep mud following each rain. At places streaches of the road were covered with unbroken rock making the 21 miles to be traveled to Christiansburg a long day's journey For over a half of a century a steady procession of riders and drivers made their way over Pilot Mountian, for neither summer's heat nor winter's cold deterred them from their going. Here, at night, could be seen the fires of campers, going and coming with their wagons piled with merchandise and could be heard the music of the banjo and fiddle as the drivers, many of them colored, played their favorite tunes. An Aged negro, yet living, says that in 15 years he did not miss a single week's trip
In 1861, the soilders of the War Between the States marched through the bridge, the strains of music from fife and drum accompanying the tread of their feet.
Here, too, with his mother passed a youth destined to become a Rear Admril of the United States Navy, "Fighting Bob Evans", who, was born near the site of this bridge. Also passed a woman, a teacher here for many years, Miss Anne Maria Smith to whom Edgar Allen Poe is reported to have a dedicated his famous poem "To Annie"
Later, the soldiers of the World War passed this way, some never to return.
Echos of the feet of horses bearing General J. E. B. Stuart, General Stoneman (northern army, 1865) General Fitzgerald Lee and thousands of others, have long since been stilled in the dimming distance, and yet many whose forefathers were among the first to enter it's portals pass this way daily; descendants of the Howards, Hungates, Wells, Watkins, Sowers, Dickersons, Grahams and Phlegars.