The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-01-18
The Natural Bridge.

Many tourists on their way to the far
South, where they intend spending the
winter, stop for a week or two in the
region about the Natural Bridge. The
bridge itself is worth coming hundreds
of miles to see. Time was not long ago
when it took one nearly four days to
reach it from New York. Then one
had to journey from the White Sulphur
Springs and few other places in old
stage coaches Although the ride was
long and tedious, many enthusiastic
lovers of the beautiful made the trip.
When the Chesapeake & Ohio and East
Tennessee IL Georgia railroads were
built the bridge was still as far out of
the world as ever, and it was not until
half dozen years ago, upon the COM
pletion of the Shenandoah Valley and
Norfolk & Western railroads, and
then of the Richmond & Allegheny, that
the place became at all accessible for
travel. 1t is now very convenient and
pleasant days journey from New
York. The bridge has rather an inter-
esting history, and the present owner
of it has been at some pains to anthem
ticate the many stories eXtant about it.
Up to the time of Washington but little
was known of the bridge. He might
almost be called its discoverer. On
his way to the Kanawha region to
make surveys for Lord Fairfax he
stopped there and was greatly i'm
pressed with what he saw. After
passing through several hands subse-
quent to the time Jefferson's estate
was sold the property was purchased
by John NJ. Garrett, whose son, Rob-
ert Garrett, is still supposed to own
some interest in it, AT the breaking
out of the war Major Harmon, after
ward of Stonewall Jackson's staff, was
residing there, and from him it passed
into the possession of the present pro-
prietor, Colonel II. G.. Parsons, who
commanded the First Vermont Cav
airy and was wounded at Gettysburg.
The soldier returned to the South after
the war for his health, and finding
that the region of the Natural Bridge
agreed with him, he settled there and
married southern woman. The i'm
provements he has made in the place
have added much to its attractiveness
and have been on most extensive
scale. Fourteen miles of drives have
been laid out, as many miles of fences
|
paths cleared. But though all these
improvements have done much to make
the place more popular, the bridge
itself is what claims the tourists atten-
ton. 1t is one of the many objects of
natures handiwork that neither words
nor paintings can adequately describe.
There are no two points of view in
which the bridge looks alike, and it is
a curious study to compare the hun
dreds of photographs of it and note
how very different they are. The best
view of the bridge is afforded from
the deep gorge below it, where runs
the stream which it spans, and which
is known as Arbor Vitae creek, receiv-
ing its name from the trees of that
name that border it. There is not the
slightest crack in the bridge anywhere,
and it is as perfect work of art in stone
as nature ever executed. The stone is
in color a very dark blue, and in rainy
weather it gets quite black 1t is very
much like the Isle La Motto stone from
Lake Champlain, and is very plentiful
in this section. The bridge is two hun
dred fifteen feet in height from the bed
of the stream to the top of the arch.
The thickness of the arch is fifty-five
feet and its average width is eighty
feet. In walking or riding along the
road that leads over the bridge it would
not be noticed. Just as you approach
the bridge the road begins to ascend,
and once on the bridge, it descends,
but the formation is so peculiar and the
growth of trees upon it so closely
matted together that it is next to i'm
possible to look down into the water
below. The interchangeable theory
about the arch is that it was worn away
gradually out of the limestone; just as
Luray and the other caves in this re-
gion were formed. In these caves are
found many useful chemicals in crude
state. Near the bridge is a saltpeter
cave that was worked in the war
of 1912 and was used for making pow
der by the inter commission of the con-
federate government during the late
war. Every year adds to the accessible
wonders of this great limestone country.
A short while ago a natural stairway