Parke County Covered Bridges

Yesterday was Covered Bridge Day. There are 31 covered bridges in Parke County. The annual festival is in October, but we prefer to avoid the crowds. We stopped at Neet Bridge first. It was built in 1904 over the Little Raccoon River.

Our next stop was Bridgeton Bridge (over Big Raccoon Creek) and Mill. This bridge has quite a story. It was burned in 2005 by arson. The community of Bridgeton and surrounding communities donated all the timber and other materials needed, labor and food to feed the workers. The project was begun in April 2006 and completed in time for the festival in Oct. 2006. What a testimony to people working together. The Mill next to it is owned by Mike Roe. He also has an interesting story. He bought the mill in 1995 and has since rebuilt the dam and millpond and is restoring the mill itself. He currently grinds flours & grains with huge millstones using a 1907 Trolley car engine for power. His plan is to restore the mill to turbine/water power as it once was. We ate lunch there - delicious homemade sandwich buns using flour ground there - and enjoyed a leisurely visit with Mike.

The roads taking us to the various bridges are narrow with no yellow lines. Another reason to be thankful for our "van" type RV!

We stopped at Roseville Bridge in Rosedale next. This bridge was built in 1910 over Big Raccoon Creek and is still used today. The sign indicated it had a 6 ton limit. We are only 5 tons, but didn't want to check it out. A pickup with livestock trailer came over it while we were taking pictures, so evidently the local folk have no qualms about using it.

Our last stop was Mecca Bridge, built in 1873 over Big Raccoon Creek. By that time it was 3:30, so time to head back to Horseshoe Lakes. On our way back, at the intersection of Mecca Road and Hwy 41 we saw the church sign we had seen in 2008 when we were here. "Est. Jerusalem 33AD". That says it all doesn't it?

It was a delightful day. Today Gene is watching U S Open tennis after installing a fan in back of our refrigerator to help it stay cool. I've done "computer stuff" and will prepare for our day of travel tomorrow. We're headed towards Goshen and the Escapade that starts on Sun.. Not sure what kind of wi-fi is available, so it may be a week before you see another post.

Until then,

God's blessings and our prayers are with you.