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ASHEBORO ~ The Pisgah Covered Bridge is one of only two covered bridges still standing in North Carolina. I drove quite a ways, down several country roads, following the signs for this historic landmark. And there it was, standing humbly in the middle of nowhere—on the outskirts of a forest, below a two-lane road, above a babbling creek, the likes of which we all played in as kids. It's within a tiny park with walking trails and a few picnic tables. There's room for 10 or so cars to park. A neighborhood dog walked around freely, checking out the day's visitors. I wasn't sure whether or not it was happy to see me.
I found out later that this bridge was built for $40 in 1911. It was washed away in 2003 by a flood, but volunteers were able to retrieve 90% of the original structure, and rebuilt it.
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I took a few photos (pretending to be Robert Kincaid in Bridges of Madison County, on assignment for National Geographic). I took shots from every angle and made my way back and forth through the 54-foot long bridge. On my way back through, I looked up to admire the woodwork and found something hanging from the rafters. (You can barely see it in the photo). I guess I have yet to embrace the country girl in me, because I distinctly remember asking myself, I wonder how a kid got his rubber snake up there? AND THEN IT MOVED! How soon I had I forgotten that I was, in fact, in the middle of the woods in North Carolina. The largest snakes we'd see in CT were garter snakes and those were nothing to write home about. This certainly was NO python : ) but the idea it could have dropped down on me, gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. I wouldn't necessarily make a special trip to see this bridge, but if you're near the Asheboro Zoo, and you have half an hour to kill, check it out. If you'd like to find out more about the bridge online (sans snake, of course), click here. |
