High Bridge

[vmicraig]

High Bridge, near Farmville, VA - no point in beating a dead horse on its history - already posted at https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-high-bridge.139848/#post-1679869 and several others....

The picture is great, however! Today, it's surrounded on both sides by woods, but still commands a pretty incredible view. Foot, bicycle and horse traffic only!

 

[redbob]

Out of the forts guarding this bridge has come one of the largest cache's of Civil War artillery shells ever recovered.

 

[bdtex]

View attachment 194389

High Bridge, near Farmville, VA - no point in beating a dead horse on its history - already posted at https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-high-bridge.139848/#post-1679869 and several others....

The picture is great, however! Today, it's surrounded on both sides by woods, but still commands a pretty incredible view. Foot, bicycle and horse traffic only!

It's Number 7 on this list of best hiking trails in Virginia:

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/virginia/16-epic-hikes-in-virginia/

 

[Digging Fool]

Out of the forts guarding this bridge has come one of the largest cache's of Civil War artillery shells ever recovered.

I have heard of this cache for years. One of the guys supposedly had a new riding lawnmower and pulled a cart hauling these out, and wore the mower out in short time. They sold the shells, for very little money, and I hear that one guy bought a new truck with his share.

 

[redbob]

I have heard of this cache for years. One of the guys supposedly had a new riding lawnmower and pulled a cart hauling these out, and wore the mower out in short time. They sold the shells, for very little money, and I hear that one guy bought a new truck with his share.

These were teenagers and their parents wouldn't allow the shells in the house, so they laid out in the weather while the young men sold them for a few dollars each. These "High Bridge" rounds are still sought after by collectors and the story goes that there are still more left in the ground. One account stated that over 800 projectiles weighing over 4 tons were removed and that the prices that the young men got for them ranged between $2.50 and 12 dollars each in the early 1960's.

 

[Schwallanscher]

View attachment 194389

High Bridge, near Farmville, VA - no point in beating a dead horse on its history - already posted at https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-high-bridge.139848/#post-1679869 and several others....

The picture is great, however! Today, it's surrounded on both sides by woods, but still commands a pretty incredible view. Foot, bicycle and horse traffic only!

it may be a dead horse, but one i never smelled to this very day. so thank you my good sir for beating it

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

It is amazing and lovely to see how much more open with farmland the surrounding countryside was back then there and it would have been the same up here in New England too.

 

[JOHN42768]

The photo gives a wonderful perspective of the crossing

 

[Coonewah Creek]

That has to be the bridge referenced by Private Sam Hankins of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry ["Simple Story of a Soldier," Nashville: Confederate Veteran, 1912, p. 24.] An exerpt from my old website...

"Shortly after the Battle of Seven Pines, Davis appointed General Robert E. Lee to the command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Stonewall Jackson's recent smashing victories in the Shenandoah Valley against combined Federal forces three times as large as his own helped shape Lee's evolving plan to defeat McClellan. Wishing to maintain his options both in the Valley and in front of Richmond, Lee decided he would reinforce Jackson with Chase Whiting's two brigades. The trip took almost a week. Private Sam Hankins of Company E related a stressful incident during a portion of the trip made by rail:

At Farmville, Va., we came to the noted long and tall bridge. This bridge had been reported unsafe, and the travelling public between Richmond and Lynchburg would go through Danville, Va., many miles out of the way, to avoid it. We had to risk it, though; and knowing about its being condemned, I had been dreading the danger for some time. I was on top of the car (my usual place) when we arrived at the bridge, and when near its center the train came to a standstill. I looked over the edge of the car far down into the valley, where cattle grazing looked as small as sheep. The engines began to puff and blow and slip, then a slack was followed by a quick jerk, when it seemed that the frail structure was giving way and sinking beneath me. This slacking and jerking lasted one hour, though it appeared to last longer than the war (four years). Conjectures were rife as to the cause of the delay. It was my greatest fright during the war. However, we passed over in safety.https://civilwartalk.com/file:///C:/Users/mikem/Desktop/2MS_copyright.doc#_edn1"

https://civilwartalk.com/file:///C:/Users/mikem/Desktop/2MS_copyright.doc#_ednref1 Hankins, Samuel W. "Simple Story of a Soldier," Nashville: Confederate Veteran, 1912, p. 24.

 

[Jamieva]

Embarassed to say i live an hour from there and have never been. it's on my list. i think it would be lovely when the leaves are changing in fall

 

[UCVRelics]

I come from a long line of RR men. My Grandfather (worked for the RR 40 years) took me and my brother across that bridge in a motor car back in the early 70's, my Dad worked for the Southern 2o years and the FRA for 25 and I guaranty you there was a "Slow Order" on all trains on that bridge.

 

[vmicraig]

Embarassed to say i live an hour from there and have never been. it's on my list. i think it would be lovely when the leaves are changing in fall

That's where I lived before transferring to AL. Near Huguenot & Robious - We were Midlo neighbors!

 

[UCVRelics]

I was just told this was High Bridge Va and not Ky which is the one I was referring to as we were living in Danville Ky. Senior Sam Adams moment

High Bridge Ky

 

[5fish]

I guess the road on the bottom right is the wagon bridge the union use to catch up with Lee...

I think you can see it in this picture too. The High Bridge looks cool but that lonely little wagon bridge helped end the war a few days earlier... The little wagon bridge is the hero of the history...

 

[5fish]

Here it is today... see the pillars to the old bridge... its a state park today... http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/blog/high-bridge-a-different-perspective-5516

 

[Jamieva]

That's where I lived before transferring to AL. Near Huguenot & Robious - We were Midlo neighbors!

I know where that is. I'm on 360 out near woodlake

 

[Alex Scotland]

Great pic thanks for posting

 

[Blessmag]

Resist a whistling bridge song; must resist...

 

[Digging Fool]

It is amazing and lovely to see how much more open with farmland the surrounding countryside was back then there and it would have been the same up here in New England too.

Yes. That open view back then doesn't remotely even look like somewhere in Southside Va, but it was. Things have really changed.