The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-04-16
NATURAL BRIDGE.
Description Of This Wonderful
and Beautiful Place.

at this place and when they are once
made known to the world they will be
appreciated at their true value. The
$4,000 people who came and have fed
and lodged during the past year will be
multiplied many times over annually
and many new hotels and cottages will
have to be erected for their accommo
dation. In the purchase of this property
the National Bridge Park Association
secured the most valuable in America,
in our humble opinion.
The natural bridge ranks among the
great wonders of the world. While it
does not, perhaps, equal Niagara in
greatness, it excels it in height and
awful mystery. 1t is single block Of
limestone, or marble, for it is suscepti-
Bile of q smooth and beautiful polish, and
spans Cedar creek. Tho visitor, to
reach this mighty monolith, traverses q
well-graded walk'way alongside small
spream which soon changes into a beau
.iful cascade, which tumbles down a
fissure in the mountain. His attention
is next attracted to several of the largest
arbor vitae trees in the world and said
by naturalists to be thousands of years
old. A short distance beyond he hears
the sound brushing waters, and hasten
ing on, eager to investigate, he suddenly
finds himself by Cedar creek, which has
its bed in deep dark canon.
Turning to the right, or up the stream
short distance, he sees tho Seventh
Wonder of the World" and involun-
tarily removes his hat and bows his
head in silence. The moaning of the
wind and waters, and the echoes, are
lost upon him, for, as one writer puts it,
he has passed into the awful hush of it's
twilight; into the conscious presence of
the Creator.
The story of the building of Natural
Bridge has never been told by man.
There are natural tunnels, assures and
streams spanncd, with masses of rock
lodged by falling, and called bridges by
writer's endowed with an almost limit
less imagination, but there is no awful
mystery; no harmony; no perfect pro-
portion; no natural relation Of height of
pier and spring of arch, and depth of
keyStones and width of way: 10 para
pets; no twin buttresses; no unseamed
walls; no pointed pillars, as here,
an able and eloquent writer declares
Whether Natural Bridge was formed
by great convulsion, or by the slow
wearing of waters, or the slow gnawing
of case, will never be known until the
Creator cOndescends to elighten as.
Now and until then,wc must admit that
sit has the appearance of Infinite de-
sign; all the perfection of plan and pur-
pose"
The height of the bridge is 215 feet,
width 100 feet and length OF span 90
feet. Standing by the stream below
M nd
pie passing over the bridge, gives them
diminuative appearance. Your cor
respondent saw with his own eyes the
name George Washington carved with
his own hands 40 feet from the bed of
the creek. How he climbed there is
mystery.
The man who carved his name IS
inches above Washington's used lad
der at time when the stream was low.
On the roof the great American eagle
is clearly outlined, and under a projcc-
ton, about IS feet from the creek,
there is to be seen the profile of human
face and head. We could call attention
to many other interesting matters in
nection with this great natural wonder,
but time and space forbid the mention
of but few.
Lightning struck the bridge in 1870,
and hurled down an immense mass of
rock, Give years after the original
bridge tract was granted to Thomas JEFF
ferson by King George III of England.)
In 1878 Henry Piper, a student, at
tempted to carve his name the highest
formed, it is said, the Incredible feat of
climbing to the top. In 1893 Corbin
Lakeland fell from Pulpit Rock and
was killed; in 1s45 Robert Walker
shared the same fate, and in 1s43 a
stranger leaped from the bridge and his
body was never identified.
1t is thought the glen above the
bridge, and extending for mile to
Lace Water Falls, where Cedar crock
leaps lG0 feet from the upper level, was
once an immense cave. Another great
natural curiosity is Lost river, a sub
terranean stream that is reached
through low arch-way which has been
made in the mountain side. The tor
rent probably dashes from some lofty
cavern to one below the creek. The
waters are as cold as ice and pleasant
to the taste. Nothing is known Of
the origin or end of this river.
In the guide book we find the follow
ing paragraph, which must serve in lieu
OF description of numerous attractions
here we cannot mention in detail in one
letter: IF the traveller seeks q place
where there are no fogs, or hay-fevers,
or mosquitoes, gnats or malaria, or
seeks in nature the wonderful or tho
beautiful sparkling springs or shady
places by still waters or would go to
windy hilltops and to wider skies, he
may turn his footsteps hither"
The Park Association own | ,O75 acres.
Three hundred acres have been laid out
in parks in which twenty-five miles of
continuous driveway have been graded.
Tho remainder is divided into villa sites
OF from one-half to FIVE acres each.
Last summer S54 900 worth OF these