The casual driver on the National Road in Frederick County, Maryland probably wouldn't notice the bridge here, over Hollow Road Creek. The landscape is relatively uninteresting - a golf course on the south side of the road, some newer homes on the north. This view, looking eastbound, shows the visual clue that led me to suspect there might be something interesting here - the abnormally thick wall on the right side of the bridge.
I put on my hiking boots and got a bit closer. My suspicion was confirmed - a stone arch bridge!
This is the south side of the bridge, as seen from the middle of Hollow Road Creek.
The construction of the bridge seems a bit atypical - the walls of the bridge ususally either go straight or curve, but not both.
The bridge was widened, in 1975, it seems.
Underneath the bridge, half of the stucture remains stone.
2 comments:
I'll bet I crossed that bridge several dozen times and didn't notice it. Any idea when the stone bridge was built? I know of a couple Civil War related events this point may be related to.
I haven't been able to do any research, yet. Given the trend of bridgebuilding in the area and the style, I'd say it was between 1820 and 1850, probably closer to 1830-1840.
There are several bridges along the National Road in Washington, Frederick, and Howard County like this, where only one stone face remains due to road widening. The two most notable ones are the bridge over Antietam Creek in Funkstown and Kline's Mill Bridge.
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