We have been so busy seeing National Parks, immersing ourselves in cities, and getting Gypsy II set up to our liking that we haven't done what is probably our favorite thing for awhile. Driving the back roads, going places most people haven't heard of or don't care about. Staying in Greenville gave us that opportunity. Along the roads, twining on trees, fences and poles there is wisteria growing wild. I can remember babying my wisteria, practically begging it to bloom and getting a few blossoms. Here it just grows everywhere.
Our drive to our destination wove through green farmland. We saw crops that we did not recognize. We need a farm guide.
We found it. Poinsett Bridge. It is believed to be the oldest surviving bridge in South Carolina and perhaps in the entire southeastern United States.
It was built in 1820. It was one of three structures on a toll road that ran from Charleston, SC through the upstate to Asheville, NC.
It is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, of poinsettia fame. I read some of Mr. Poinsett's history and he was so much more than an amateur botanist. He was in the South Carolina House of Representatives, Minister to Mexico and Secretary of War in 1837 among so many other things.
Sources credit the actual design of the bridge to Robert Mills, a native Charlestonian and renowned American architect who designed the Washington Monument, the US Treasury Department building, and the University of South Carolina as well as other equally imposing edifices in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Columbia.
It is an amazingly beautiful structure spanning 130 feet over Little Gap Creek. The Gothic Arch is 14 feet high.
I found the entire place enchanting. It was like being in my own private paradise. The sense of remoteness and eerie solitude amid rugged foothills and dense mountain laurel with the only sounds being the trickle of the creek and the birds chirping in the trees made a happy place.
The bridge is now the entrance to a hiking path. So amazing that most of the sidewalls are still standing.
Little wood violets grow out of crevices in the rocks.
The water cascades over the rocks in the creek making mini waterfalls.
Butterflies filled the air and rested in groups on the ground. By this time I was asking Walt if there was any way we could just park Gypsy II here and stay. After all we are old............shouldn't we qualify to be part of a National Register of Historic Places?
We ate our picnic lunch and for the entire time no one else was there. Solitude! But, just as we finished our lunch a family came and were going to have a picnic by the creek too. We moved on down the road.
White fencing, trees and bushes blooming. Love this country drive.
Rust and logs. Love this country drive.
Then a sign that said Covered Bridge. Bridge #2. Better yet.
Campbell's Covered Bridge is the only remaining covered bridge in the state of South Carolina.
Doesn't she look like she is tilted? I thought it was because of its age but then I read the information board. The bridge was built in 1909 by Charles Irwin Willis and he let the truss ends follow the natural lay of the land and then built the rest of the bridge to fit, therefore, the bridge is not square or plumb.
The information says that he patented his design of a four span Howe truss on each side. It went on to explain....criss crossing braces with vertical tie rods called Kingposts. It was frequently used for railroad bridges.
Lafayette Campbell, a grist mill owner, allowed his land to be used for the bridge's construction. Covered bridges were popular in the mountains because they provided extra protection for river and creek crossings in snow and ice. Probably most important for Lafayette Campbell was the fact that it was easier for the farmers to bring their corn to his mill.
The road across the bridge was permanently closed in the early 1980's. The area is now owned by Greenville County and they have developed a nice picnic area overlooking Beaverdam Creek. Great visit at Bridge #2.
Looks like a house straight out of Southern Living. Porch swings, rockers, huge lawn, flowering trees and the Blue Ridge Mountains as a back drop.
“Golden bridge, silver bridge or diamond bridge; it doesn’t matter! As long as the bridge takes you across the other side, it is a good bridge!”
Mehmet Murat ildan