Hi Folks
Continuing on September 14, we visited the Cooley,
Sanderson and Depot bridges.
Cooley bridge is canted off to the side. The Depot
Road is closed at the intersection with Rt 7. We parked at the convenience store and walked
about .7 miles. The road is open to local traffic and there were a lot of vehicles going to the town
dump. There is a steep hill going down to the dump. In the Depot picture I can be seen talking
to a local woman who told us about the dump truck damaging the bridge. She gets her exercise
by making six round trips from the railroad tracks to the bridge. She said that repair work should
be completed in December.
We returned to our base in Bennington.
On 9-15 we headed north to the Lake Champlain
Valley, visiting Shoreham RR, Cornwall-Salisbury, Pulp Mill, Spade Farm and Halpin bridges.
The Shoreham pictures are from both sides. The dam and waterfall by the Pulp Mill bridge are
quite scenic.
Pulp Mill Bridge is one of two two lane covered
bridges in Vermont and one of seven in the U.S.-- built about 1808-1820. Pulp Mill bridge is
generally agreed to be Vermont's oldest covered bridge. The pedestrian bridge was added in the
last 10 years.
The Halpin bridge directions were complicated. We
stopped and asked a policeman at a convenience store for directions. In general, tours in Ed
Barna's book take us about 4-6 hrs.
Tom