On the viewer’s left is the old Spottsville bridge in Henderson County, Kentucky, part of US Highway 60.
On the right is the new bridge. This view is facing West. The bridges go over the Green River.
Everyone hates the old Spottsville bridge. It is too narrow. Two American-sized trucks passing on it will hit their driver’s mirrors against each other. It’s too narrow for a lot of farm equipment, including my cousin’s, who had to make an hour’s drive out of his way as a result.
Everyone is excited about the new bridge.
And I know the old bridge has to go.
But I cried when I saw this photo.
I have dreamed of crossing this old bridge on my motorcycle.
When I approach this bridge, I approach some of the best times of my childhood, and when I cross it, I connect with my family.
This bridge represents the area where my family is from – Spottsville and Reed. There was a restaurant on the other side of the river of this photo when I was a kid (on the left as you approached going East) and my Papaw would take me there for hamburgers – and they were the BEST hamburgers. Crossing the bridge meant we were going to see my Mamaw’s parents, or I was going to stay with my other great-grandmother, Papaw’s mother, or that I was going to go spend the day with my cousin Robin. It meant my Mamaw would start telling stories – where her childhood school was, where they lived when they were sharecroppers, and on and on.
The narrowness of the bridge required everyone to slow down and be careful – which gave you a chance to look at the dam locks on the Green River on one side, and the old railroad bridge on the other (the railroad bridge would turn to allow barges through – leaving scary gaps that you could imagine a train running off in a disaster movie).
As an adult, I imagined a hike and bike route going all the way from Henderson to this bridge, along US Highway 60, and that restaurant opening back up as a result, maybe another building opening as a little B & B. And people would sit outside and look at that narrow bridge and marvel at it.
But now, people will speed through the area, never giving any of it a second thought.
Goodbye, Spottsville bridge. I’ll miss you so.
Here are some photos of, and on, the Old Spottsville bridge.
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