Historic Bridge

Historic Bridge. . , A FORTUNATE FALL: , Until the early 1970s, when Brenneman Church Road was paved and rerouted to its present location west of the Mill, the gravel road came on this side of the mill and crossed the tail race at this point. This former gravel road then became an easement for use by adjacent land owners, but in 2009 a hole developed in the roadway over the tail race, making it impassable and filled the tail race with earth and gravel. When the debris was cleared away to repair the roadway, the stone-slab bridge you see here now was discovered., There are no records about the construction of the bridge, but excavation revealed that it was built by placing large flat lime stones across the tail race's sturdy stone walls - an unusual method of bridge construction. One of the largest stones, a massive 6' x 10' slab weighing over 8,000 pounds, had broken at the edge of the right hand wall causing that right hand edge of the remaining 6' x 8' part of the stone to drop into the race, along with all the fill on top of it., Wanting to preserve this unique bit of architectural history, a support was built underneath the broken stone and the entire stone bridge was left open for viewing. A modern 10' wide steel and wood bridge was constructed over the top of the old stone bridge to allow neighbors access to their fields, thus preserving the important historic bridge while still honoring the present agricultural industry that has driven the economy of this part of the Shenandoah Valley since its settlement in the mid 1700s.