Rating:
43618
{98}%
2 votes
Dry Creek Fork Road Bridge
Photos
Photo taken by J.P. in December 0000
Enlarge
BH Photo #149118
Description
The original location, builder, and owner of this bridge are unknown except that it was built
for use on a private driveway in Belle Meade, an exclusive residential area of Nashville (Carr
1994). The original construction date is estimated to be about 1900.
During the early twentieth century, people traveling to the Dry Fork Creek School either
forded Dry Fork Creek or crossed on a “swinging” (crude suspension) bridge. In the mid-
1940s, the teacher dismissed school early due to a storm and the fear that the creek would
rise and thus strand the children at school. While the teacher was escorting the children
across the swinging bridge, a child slipped and fell into the creek and drowned. An unidentified
Belle Meade resident, who was then replacing his driveway truss bridge with a new concrete
structure, read about the incident in a Nashville newspaper and donated the truss bridge to
the school (Carr 1994). Pre-1903 photographs of Belle Meade Mansion (Belle Meade
Mansion:P-68, 70) show a bridge at the old Natchez Trace Crossing identical to this bridge,
and it is believed probable that the original location of this bridge was at the Belle Meade
property (see #33, 19-NonHighway-9). The county and local residents moved and erected the
truss bridge at its present location.
The Dry Fork Creek Bridge contains one span, a 52.5-foot Double Intersection Warren
(Lattice) pony truss resting on concrete abutments. The curb-to-curb width is 11.5 feet, and
the out-to-out width is 12.5 feet. The truss is 6.0 feet in height. The composition of the truss
is identical to that of the Belle Meade Bridge. Bottom chords, top chords, and end posts are
angles paired back to back. The top chords curve downward, without a connection, into
vertical end posts, forming a single member. Diagonals are single angles. Four outriggers,
formed of angles paired back to back that curve into the bottom chord, provide lateral bracing
on the outside of the truss. The railing is composed of angles in a lattice pattern with a
diamond shaped boss detail.
The bridge is now located on a farm road off Dry Fork Creek Road.
Facts
- Overview
- Double-intersection Warren pony truss bridge over Dry Fork Creek on Private Drive
- Location
- Sumner County, Tennessee
- Status
- Open to traffic
- Design
- wood deck
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +36.47762, -86.39350 (decimal degrees)
36°28'39" N, 86°23'37" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/554330/4037096 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Gallatin
- Inventory number
- BH 43618 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- October 29, 2010: Updated by J.P.: added description info
- March 23, 2010: New photos from James McCray
- November 14, 2009: Added by J.P.
Sources
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com