The Old Bridge over Paw Paw Creek where it meets Anderson Branch, 042823,
It’s a very old bridge. No one I’ve spoken with seems to know exactly how old it is, but no one remembers it not being there. It’s a minimum of fifty years old, and likely ten to twenty years older.
It’s weathered a lot over those years. Floods, beavers, skinnydippers, bats, discarded cows, continual broken pavement and potholes. In a sense it offers a localized history of that little spot on our isolated rural road.
The bridge is also a symbol. At the risk of sounding nostalgic, or worse, maudlin, our little one lane broken down bridge has been a reminder of days gone by, a slower, more deliberate time. I can’t begin to count the number of hours I’ve spent at the Bridge visiting with neighbors, meeting the school bus, or walking across it with my dogs.
It’s not that those things won’t happen at the New Bridge. They will. But it will be different. It’s a modern affair, the new bridge, wide, smooth, with gentle approaches that invite speed. The footprint was enormous, certainly compared to the old bridge, and not unlike something you might see on an interstate highway.
It’s change that I at once both celebrate and bemoan. It was an old bridge, and with increasing traffic, it needed replacing. Yet, I hate to lose it. Another piece of the old Madison County, a piece of my time here, being replaced, improved to be sure, but better? I guess we’ll see.
Rob with DOT worker as the first car to officially drive over the New Bridge over Paw Paw Creek, where it meets Anderson Branch, 042523.