Existing comment:
The Historic National Road: The Road That Built the Nation:
Wilson Bridge: Standing the Test of Time:
"Keep these bridges in proper repair and they will last as long as any. They have stood many hard knocks for a long time." -- Elmer E. Piper, Washington County Surveyor, 1920s.
This graceful, five-arch structure, spanning historic Conococheague Creek, is the oldest stone bridge in Washington County. The Army Corps of Engineers only required stone piers with a wooden superstructure, but the local government insisted the bridge be constructed entirely of native limestone.
Completed in 1819, at a cost of $12,000, it was the first of thirty stone bridges constructed in Washington County prior to the end of the Civil War. This 210-foot bridge, with two-foot thick walls above the roadbed, carried National Road traffic for nearly 120 years until the realignment of U.S. Route 40 in 1937.
Row's Amusement Park attracted thousands to Wilson's Bridge during the first half of the 20th century. The park featured rides, bath houses, an open-air theatre, a dance/ball room and a popular sliding board.
People Preserving their Past:
"If you went out there and stood in the dark, we could hear small rocks gradually sloping into the creek." -- Glenn Dull, Washington County Engineer, 1982
Tropic Storm Agnes produced one of the worst floods in the Great Valley of Maryland. Raging waters completely submerged the bridge leaving gaping holes in the stone superstructure. Demolition was recommended but county residents raised an outcry. A coalition of local historical societies, county government and the Maryland Historical Trust united to obtain funding to restore the bridge.
The crumbling remains of the middle arches in 1982. LeRoy Myers, Sr., a Clear Spring contractor and stone mason, restored the bridge. |