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Bay Bridge
Description
The Merrymeeting Bay Bridge was constructed in 1835, a crudely engineered, wooden span over the Androscoggin River between Topsham and East Brunswick. For more than 60 years, the half-mile long toll bridge served as a short cut between upper and lower Sagadahoc County, as a link between the agricultural upper towns and the expanding city of Bath.The bridge was 2,700 feet in length, with a wooden deck 24-feet wide. It was supported first on wooden pilings set 20 feet apart in the shifting river sands; then, when ice and currents became a problem, rocks were added around the pilings to protect them. Still later, improvements projects on the bridge led to replacement of the wooden pilings with granite block supports.
Some of this old stone work is still visible from the Bay Bridge Road off Topsham Fore side, and from the Bay Bridge Road on the Brunswick side, near the Harry C. Crooker and Sons construction firm. The bridge extended from Crooker's shore to Mustard's Island, then across the island and a short stretch of the Androscoggin to Topsham.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost wooden bridge over Androscoggin River on Bay Bridge Road
- Location
- Brunswick, Cumberland County, Maine
- Status
- Destroyed by flood in 1896; Ruins remain
- History
- Built 1836; One span lost to ice 1875 then replaced 1878; Lost to flood 1896
- Builder
- - Martin Hall (contractor)
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 2,700.0 ft. (0.5 mi.)
Deck width: 24.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +43.93635, -69.89163 (decimal degrees)
43°56'11" N, 69°53'30" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 19/428437/4865190 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Brunswick
- Inventory number
- BH 57638 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Sources
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- History of Merrymeeting Bay - Bridge history
© Copyright 2002-20, James Baughn and contributors.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/me/cumberland/bay/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/me/cumberland/bay/
Pedestrian bridge nearby. looks new,but was renovated in 2012.
Oh,also it's on a rail-trail,if that is any help.