Cheat Bridge, West Virginia

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Cheat Bridge, West Virginia
Cheat Bridge.jpg
CR 250/4 bridge over Shavers Fork
USA West Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Cheat Bridge, West Virginia
Coordinates: 38°36′42″N79°52′27″W / 38.61167°N 79.87417°W / 38.61167; -79.87417 Coordinates: 38°36′42″N79°52′27″W / 38.61167°N 79.87417°W / 38.61167; -79.87417
Country United States
State West Virginia
County Randolph
Elevation
[1]
3,560 ft (1,090 m)
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
Area code 304/681
GNIS feature ID1550676 [1]

Cheat Bridge is an unincorporated community in southeastern Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. It is located near U.S. Route 250's crossing of Shavers Fork.

Contents

The bridge

As its name suggests, Cheat Bridge is named for a historical bridge over Shavers Fork of Cheat River located here and first built in the 19th century to service the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. [2] The original covered bridge was built before the American Civil War. After the Battle of Greenbrier River (3 October 1861), Union troops used the bridge when they built extensive military defenses at nearby Cheat Summit. Over 40 years later, celebrated satirist and short story writer Ambrose Bierce revisited the site of his youthful service. He found that “…the old wooden covered bridge across the Cheat River looks hardly a day older, and is still elaborately decorated with soldiers’ names carven with jack-knives.” [3]

The current bridge along the route of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike is a steel truss bridge built in 1912 by the Canton Bridge Company. It carries County Route 250/4, which provides access to adjacent Monongahela National Forest lands. The existing bridge is in poor shape and has a 3-ton load limit.

Since 1934, through traffic along U.S. Route 250 has crossed Shavers Fork just downstream of the earlier route on a high-speed alignment. A 1934 steel truss bridge original to the site was replaced in 2021. [4] [5]

Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad

Cheat Bridge also serves as a stop for the Cheat Mountain Salamander train operated by the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad. Prior to 2008, the Cheat Mountain Salamander was powered by a railcar that departed from Cheat Bridge. Beginning in 2008, this train is now operated as a regular passenger train departing from the Elkins depot. For a shorter 3-hour trip to Spruce, passengers may still board at Cheat Bridge. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 250</span> Highway in the United States

U.S. Route 250 is a route of the United States Numbered Highway System, and is a spur of U.S. Route 50. It currently runs for 514 miles (827 km) from Richmond, Virginia to Sandusky, Ohio. It passes through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio. It goes through the cities of Richmond, Charlottesville, Staunton, and Waynesboro, Virginia; and Wheeling, West Virginia. West of Pruntytown, West Virginia, US 250 intersects and forms a short overlap with its parent US 50.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Camp Allegheny</span> Battle of the American Civil War

The Battle of Camp Allegheny, also known as the Battle of Allegheny Mountain, took place on December 13, 1861, in Pocahontas County, Virginia, about 3 miles from the mountainous border of Highland County, Virginia, as part of the Operations in Western Virginia Campaign during the American Civil War. The battle was a small brigade-level conflict, and while the Confederates technically won with a Union withdrawal, it was considered militarily indecisive. However, it had critical implications for the future border of Virginia and West Virginia, ensuring Highland County remained in Confederate hands and would not be involved in the formation of the future state of West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenbrier River</span> River in West Virginia, United States

The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River, 162 miles (261 km) long, in southeastern West Virginia, in the United States. Via the New, Kanawha and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 1,656 square miles (4,290 km2). It is one of the longest rivers in West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shavers Fork</span> River in West Virginia, United States

Shavers Fork of the Cheat River is situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is 88.5 mi (142.5 km) long and forms the Cheat at its confluence with Black Fork at Parsons. It was traditionally considered one of the five Forks of Cheat and its upper reaches constitute the highest river in the eastern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shavers Fork Mountain Complex</span>

Shavers Fork Mountain Complex is the name given to the mountains on either side of Shavers Fork in the highlands portions of Randolph County, Pocahontas County, and Tucker County in West Virginia, USA. Much of the land surrounding the river and its adjacent mountains is protected by Monongahela National Forest including about 20,000 acres (81 km2) of designated wilderness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheat Mountain</span>

Cheat Mountain is an exceptionally high and rugged ridge situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is about 50 miles (80 km) long and more than five miles (8 km) wide at its widest. Its highest point is at its southernmost end at Thorny Flat, which has an elevation of 4,848 feet (1,478 m). Several other knobs rise above 4,000 feet (1,200 m) along its length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lemuel Chenoweth</span> American architect

Lemuel Chenoweth was a carpenter, legislator and self-taught architect. He is best known as one of 19th century America's master covered bridge builders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glady Fork</span> River in West Virginia, United States

Glady Fork is a 31.9-mile-long (51.3 km) river in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is considered one of the five principal headwaters tributaries of the Cheat River — known as the Forks of Cheat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurel Fork (Cheat River tributary)</span> River in West Virginia, United States

Laurel Fork is a 37.8-mile-long (60.8 km) river in eastern West Virginia, USA. It is a tributary of the Dry Fork; via the Dry Fork, the Black Fork, and the Cheat, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 60 square miles (160 km2) in the Allegheny Mountains. With the Dry Fork, the Glady Fork, the Shavers Fork and the Blackwater River, it is considered to be one of the five principal headwaters tributaries of the Cheat River.

The Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike was built in what is now the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia during the second quarter of the 19th century to provide a roadway from Staunton, Virginia and the upper Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River at present-day Parkersburg, West Virginia. Engineered by Claudius Crozet through the mountainous terrain, it was a toll road partially funded by the Virginia Board of Public Works. Control of this road became crucial during the American Civil War. Today, the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike can be largely traversed by following West Virginia Route 47 east from Parkersburg to Linn, then U.S. Route 33 east through Weston and Buckhannon to Elkins, then U.S. Route 250 southeast through Beverly, Huttonsville, crossing the West Virginia/Virginia state line to Staunton, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9th Indiana Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 9th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was organized on April 22, 1861, for three-months' service in Indianapolis. After being reorganized for three years' service in late August and early September 1861, the 9th took part in many major battles, including Shiloh, Stones River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Kennesaw Mountain and the Siege of Atlanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Back Allegheny Mountain</span>

Back Allegheny Mountain is a long mountain ridge in eastern West Virginia. It is part of the Shavers Fork Mountain Complex in the Allegheny Range of the Appalachians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shavers Mountain</span>

Shavers Mountain, is a high and rugged ridge situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia. It is about 35 miles (56 km) long, north to south, and several of its peaks exceed 4,000 feet (1,200 m) in elevation. Shavers Mountain is notable for being "bookended", at its northern and southern ends, by two exceptional natural areas: the Otter Creek Wilderness and the Gaudineer Scenic Area, respectively, both of which preserve small stands of old growth forest on the mountain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Top</span> West Virginia place listed on National Register of Historic Places

White Top is a knob and spur of Cheat Mountain in southeastern Randolph County, West Virginia, USA. Sitting at an elevation of 4,085 feet (1,245 m), it is located just west of the Shavers Fork of Cheat River and Cheat Bridge. While White Top was originally crossed by the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, modern-day U.S. Route 250 skirts the base of the knob beside Shavers Fork to the north and east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurel Fork North Wilderness</span>

Laurel Fork North Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the Greenbrier Ranger District of Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. The Wilderness protects high-elevation lands along Laurel Fork and is bordered by Middle Mountain to the west. It is a companion to Laurel Fork South Wilderness, the two being split by Randolph County Route 40. Laurel Fork North contains 9.5 miles (15.3 km) of hiking trails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bickle Knob</span> Mountain summit located east of Elkins in Randolph County, West Virginia

Bickle Knob is a mountain summit located east of Elkins in Randolph County, West Virginia, USA. Easily accessible during warm-weather months, Bickle Knob is also home to one of the few remaining observation towers in Monongahela National Forest.

The Greenbrier, Cheat and Elk Railroad (GC&E) was a logging railroad in West Virginia operating in the early 20th century. Its main line ran from Bergoo to Cheat Junction, where it connected with the Western Maryland Railway (WM).

Spruce is a ghost town in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. Spruce is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) southwest of Durbin.

The Camp Bartow Historic District — centered on the historic inn called "Traveller's Repose" and the site of the Battle of Greenbrier River (1861) — is a national historic district located at Bartow, Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. It is situated at the foot of Burner Mountain, at a bend in the East Fork Greenbrier River, where U.S. Route 28 intersects U.S. Route 250.

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cheat Bridge, West Virginia
  2. Kenny, Hamill (1945). West Virginia Place Names: Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams and Mountains. Piedmont, WV: The Place Name Press. p. 166.
  3. Letter, Ambrose Bierce to Alexander Whitehall, 30 September 1904. Published in Ninth Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association: Proceedings of the 18th Annual Reunion (N.p., 1904), pp 13-18. Reprinted as “Battlefields and Ghosts” (Palo Alto, California: Harvest Press, 1931) and in Joshi, S.T. and David E. Schultz, eds. (1998), Ambrose Bierce, A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography; Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, pp 3-6.
  4. "U.S. 250 Bridge at Shavers Fork Cheat River". nationalbridges.com National Bridge Inventory Bridges. Retrieved 2008-06-05.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. https://www.highwaysthroughhistory.com/Content/bridges/Cheat/docs/slhd.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  6. "Cheat Mountain Salamander". Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad. Archived from the original on 2008-05-08. Retrieved 2008-06-04.