There is a fascination we have with bridges. They’re in the movies in war, “A Bridge Too Far” and “Bridge Over the River Kwai,” and romance, “The Bridges of Madison County.”

Who does not immediately recognize San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge?

Bridges to drive over, to leap from, to cross with fear as they lurch and heave under the stress of traffic.

The spans today are not just utilitarian, they are designed as works of art, like the Zakim Bridge on Interstate 93 in Boston and the Penobscot Narrows bridge on U.S. Route 1 that connects Prospect and Verona Island.

But, in another time, bridges were of wood and necessary to move people and commerce in a growing nation.
Covered bridges span rivers throughouy New England. Some one-lane dinosaurs are still in use, especially on the Connecticut River, which divides New Hampshire and Vermont.

Hallowell build such a bridge in 1860. 

At the time the city was thriving and had a strong economy, with Water Street offering an assortment of needs from food to medicine to clothing to beer.

The city fathers decided to erect the bridge to attract people from the farms of Chelsea right across the river and the new resort area of Togus, across the Kennebec River. It was built roughly just south of where the bulwark is today and connecting near Butternut Park in Chelsea.

All went well until a storm in October 1869 damaged some of the supports that held up the bridge, halting the winter’s commerce.

The bridge hadn’t heard the last from the Kennebec. In the early spring of 1870, the river hit a final blow and the Hallowell Bridge was washed away by charging ice.

The economy of Hallowell still prevailed, but there was no movement to build another bridge.

We cross now by kayak, or canoe, or power boat in a clean river, at times unpredictable, but sometimes quiet.
Still, eagles and osprey are above and unseen sturgeon linger below.

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