Van Metre Ford Stone Bridge

Last updated
Van Metre Ford Stone Bridge
Opequon-Creek-WV.jpg
Van Metre Ford Stone Bridge, May 2007
USA West Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationEast of Martinsburg across Opequon Creek on Golf Course Road, Martinsburg, West Virginia
Coordinates 39°26′42″N77°55′40″W / 39.44500°N 77.92778°W / 39.44500; -77.92778
Arealess than one acre
Built1832
ArchitectSilas Harry
Architectural styleStone Arch
NRHP reference No. 77001373 [1]
Added to NRHPAugust 22, 1977

Van Metre Ford Stone Bridge is a historic stone arch bridge located near Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia. Built by Pennsylvania builder Silas Harry, it was built in 1832, and is a three span bridge crossing Opequon Creek. It is 132 feet long and constructed of ashlar limestone. The center span measures 32 feet and the two side spans are each 29.5 feet long. [2] [3]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. [1] A historic marker at the bridge says:

Named for the property owners this stone bridge built in 1832 across Opequon Creek was major improvement for travellers on Warm Springs Road connecting Alexandria and Bath Va., site of famous mineral waters. The Berkeley County Court established a commission to study and contract for construction of bridge. Silas Harry erected at local expense 165 foot bridge at reported cost of $3,700.

The bridge was replaced by a modern, two-lane bridge in 2016. The historic stone bridge remains as a pedestrian bridge. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Road</span> Early American improved highway

The National Road was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the 620-mile (1,000 km) road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the West for thousands of settlers. When improved in the 1830s, it became the second U.S. road surfaced with the macadam process pioneered by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bunker Hill, West Virginia</span> Unincorporated community in West Virginia, United States

Bunker Hill is an unincorporated community in Berkeley County, West Virginia, United States, located in the lower Shenandoah Valley on Winchester Pike at its junction with County Route 26 south of Martinsburg. It is the site of the confluence of Torytown Run and Mill Creek, a tributary of Opequon Creek which flows into Winchester, Virginia. According to the 2000 census, the Bunker Hill community has a population of 5,319.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuscarora Creek (Opequon Creek tributary)</span>

Tuscarora Creek in Berkeley County, West Virginia, is an 11.4-mile-long (18.3 km) tributary of Opequon Creek, which drains into the Potomac River in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elm Grove Stone Arch Bridge</span> United States historic place

The Elm Grove Stone Arch Bridge, also known as the Monument Place Bridge, is the oldest extant bridge, built in 1817, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The bridge carries U.S. Route 40 over Little Wheeling Creek in Elm Grove. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lennox</span>

David Lennox was a Scottish-Australian bridge builder and master stonemason born in Ayr, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge</span> Bridge in New Hampshire to Windsor, Vermont

The Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge is a 157-year-old, two-span, timber Town lattice-truss, interstate, covered bridge that crosses the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire, and Windsor, Vermont. Until 2008, when the Smolen–Gulf Bridge opened in Ohio, it had been the longest covered bridge in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadesville, Virginia</span> Unincorporated community in Virginia, United States

Wadesville is an unincorporated community in Clarke County in the U.S. state of Virginia. Wadesville is located along Opequon Creek at Locke's Ford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunlap's Creek Bridge</span> Bridge in Brownsville, Pennsylvania

Dunlap's Creek Bridge was the first arch bridge in the United States built of cast iron. It was designed by Richard Delafield and built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Constructed from 1836 to 1839 on the National Road in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, it remains in use today. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (1978). It is located in the Brownsville Commercial Historic District and supports Market Street, the local main thoroughfare. Due to the steep sides of the Monongahela River valley, there is only room for two short streets parallel to the river's shore and graded mild enough to be comfortable to walk before the terrain rises too steeply for business traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilson's Bridge</span> United States historic place

Wilson's Bridge is a bridge near Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland, United States. It originally carried the Hagerstown and Conococheague Turnpike, the National Road, across Conococheague Creek 7 miles (11 km) west of Hagerstown. The five-arched structure, the longest of the county's stone bridges, is 210 feet (64 m) in length and is constructed of coursed local limestone. The bridge was erected in 1819 by Silas Harry, who had built similar bridges in Pennsylvania. The bridge was closed in June 1972 when it was damaged by floods which occurred during Tropical Storm Agnes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lennox Bridge, Glenbrook</span> Bridge in New South Wales, Australia

The Lennox Bridge, Glenbrook is a heritage-listed road bridge that carries the Mitchell's Pass across Brookside Creek, located at Glenbrook, in the City of Blue Mountains local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The bridge was designed by David Lennox and built from 1832 to 1833 by James Randall and other convicts. It is also known as Lennox Bridge or The Horseshoe Bridge. The property is owned by Blue Mountains City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The stone arch bridge is a single arch of 6 metres (20 ft) span and is 9 metres (30 ft) above water level, with a road width of 9 metres (30 ft).

The Wrought Iron Bridge Company was a bridge fabrication and construction company based in Canton, Ohio, United States. It specialized in the fabrication of iron truss bridges and was a prolific bridge builder in the late 19th century. It was one of the 28 firms consolidated by J. P. Morgan into the American Bridge Company in 1900. Many of its bridges have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Andrews Creek Bridge</span> United States historic place

The St. Andrews Creek Bridge was built in 1930-31 as part of the West Side Road in Mount Rainier National Park. The bridge spans 26 feet (7.9 m) and is almost 34 feet (10 m) wide, carrying a two-lane road on a stone-faced concrete bridge. The West Side Road was planned to link the Nisqually and Carbon River entrances to the park, but only 13 miles (21 km) were completed in six years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War Eagle Bridge</span> United States historic place

The War Eagle Bridge is a historic bridge in War Eagle, Arkansas, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perkiomen Bridge</span> United States historic place

The Perkiomen Bridge, originally built 1798-99 and widened in 1928, is one of the oldest stone arch bridges in the United States still in use. It crosses Perkiomen Creek near Collegeville, Pennsylvania. The bridge's six semi-circular arches cover a total of over 300 feet (91 m). The longest arch spans 76 feet (23 m). Its decorative piers and belt courses are unusual for a bridge this old. A lottery financed $20,000 of the original construction. The bridge carried the main road from Philadelphia to Reading, known at various times as the Manatawny Pike, Germantown Pike, the Philadelphia-Reading Pike, and US 422. Since the construction of the US 422 bypass, the road has been known as Ridge Pike or Old US 422.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin H. Snyder House</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Benjamin H. Snyder House is a historic home located near Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia. It was built about 1925, and is a 1+12-story, Arts and Crafts-style bungalow. It is built of concrete with weather board finished gables and the remainder finished in stucco. The front facade features a recessed, arcaded front porch. Also on the property are a concrete block garage, retaining wall, and a concrete obelisk memorializing an 18th-century ford of Opequon Creek known as an Old Pack Horse Ford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opequon Golf Club</span> United States historic place

Opequon Golf Club, also known as the Stonebridge Golf Club and Martinsburg Golf Club, is a historic country club clubhouse located at Martinsburg, Berkeley County, West Virginia. The clubhouse was built in 1922, and is a one-story, Adirondack Lodge Style stone building with a wraparound porch on the north and west sides. It has a steep gable roof with a chimney at the west end. The porches have hip roofs and feature exposed rafter ends and stone columns. It sits on a raised basement. The building was added to on the east end in 1955. West Virginia Senator Charles James Faulkner was a founding member and served as first president of the Opequon Golf Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Park's Gap Bridge</span> United States historic place

Park's Gap Bridge is a historic Howe Truss bridge located near Martinsburg, at Tomahawk, Berkeley County, West Virginia. It was built in 1892, and has a span 93 feet (28 m) long and 12 feet (3.7 m) wide over Back Creek. It is a simple span pony truss supported on stone abutments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hite House</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

John Hite House, also known as Springdale, is a historic home located at Bartonsville, Frederick County, Virginia. The original house was built in 1753, and is of native limestone laid in irregular ashlar with some random-coursed limestone rubble used on its secondary walls. The stone was quarried from a nearby field. The house faced east, overlooking the Indian Trail/Great Valley Road, where Jost Hite's tavern was situated at the ford of the Opequon Creek. The Springdale property was originally the home of Jost Hite, the earliest white settler in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Jost Hite was Pennsylvania Dutch and moved to the Valley in August 1731. His son, Colonel John I. Hite, built the Springdale house. Also on the property are the contributing stone ruins of what is believed to be Jost Hite's tavern/house of the 1730s, a stone shed, and small wood-frame spring house. The house and 288 acres were sold March 20, 1802 to Richard Peters Barton (1763-1821), a native of Lancaster Pa. who had spent some years in Dinwiddie County, Va., before moving to Frederick County c. 1798. [Frederick County Deed Book S.C.4, p. 484.] The house passed to his son Richard Walker Barton (1799-1859) and in 1858 to another son, David Walker Barton (1801-1863), remaining in the Barton family until 1873. There is a small Barton family cemetery on the property. When the Valley Turnpike was chartered in 1834, the road was laid out to run on the west side of Springdale. Soon thereafter, the house was reoriented to face the Turnpike, and the Richard W. Bartons built the then-fashionable Greek Revival four-bay, two-story portico. [Garland W. Quarles, "Some Old Houses in Frederick County, Virginia", Winchester, 1990. Revised ed. PP. 131–135.]

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marble Bridge (Proctor, Vermont)</span> United States historic place

The Marble Bridge, formally known as the Fletcher D. Proctor Memorial Bridge, carries Main Street across Otter Creek in the center of Proctor, Vermont. Built in 1915, and widened in 1935-36, it is a well-preserved example of early concrete bridge construction, and is decoratively faced in local marble. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Morgan Monument</span> United States historic place

The Morgan Morgan Monument, also known as Morgan Park, is a 1.05-acre (0.4 ha) roadside park in the unincorporated town of Bunker Hill in Berkeley County, West Virginia. It is located along Winchester Avenue and Mill Creek. The park features a granite monument that was erected in 1924 to memorialize Morgan Morgan (1688–1766), an American pioneer of Welsh descent, who was among the earliest European persons to settle permanently within the present-day boundaries of West Virginia.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. James E. Harding (October 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Van Metre Ford Stone Bridge" (PDF). State of West Virginia, West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2011-06-02.
  3. Chambers, S. Allen Jr. (2004). Buildings of West Virginia. Oxford University Press. p. 532. ISBN   0-19-516548-9.
  4. Cronk, Samantha (2014-01-09). "Residents conflicted over Van Metre Ford upgrade". The Journal . Retrieved 2014-05-19.