TIP #526 GETTING FROM HERE TO THERE ON EARLY ROADS AND THROUGH COVERED BRIDGES In the beginning - of Kentucky that is - there were timbers, hills (called knobs), dense undergrowth and buffalo trails. Quite a challenge for the early settlers and explorers trying to bring their family, wagons, livestock and earthly belongings to the wilderness called Kentucky County Virginia; later the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The most important perhaps were the buffalo trails. I have been told many times that buffalo often traveled two by two, side by side, and this was the width of the pioneer wagon. The buffalo followed the same path each time, pounding down the ground each time into a solid "road" of packed dirt and small rock. Whether this is an urban legend or a factual statement I don't know but I do know that the pioneers did follow the buffalo trails. Thus began the Kentucky road system. I'm not going to go into a detailed study of all the original roads in Kentucky but a little about their importance and how it involved every able-bodied man and boy. One of the first tasks the settlers had to tackle after clearing out the timber, building their cabins, establishing a town or community and chasing of wild animals and Indians was building roads. In working with the "roads book" and the county order books of the earlier years, one will find several interesting things about these roads. 1 - Some of the first roads built led from the "city" to a water grist mill. Mills were erected early on the waterways to grind the grain to feed the people and the livestock. So many petitions will be found in the records of "viewing the way for a road from such and such town to so and so's mill. 2 - Another set of early roads led to adjacent counties or "to the state line." This was of course to enable the citizens to travel more easily to other areas and to get produce in and out. 3 - Roads within the town were critical. I'll describe those in a minute; they were great "fun". 4 - And, last but not least, roads leading to city and county officials' homes ranked very high. It seemed that the city and county leaders were insistent that they have good roads coming right to their front door! What did the roads look like? Not much. It appears that when a road was established, everyone's land where the road crossed had to give permission. Sometimes the land owners protested as it might have taken some of their good land and they wanted the road moved. Once everyone agreed and the surveyors had laid out a tentative route, it came up for a vote and if approved, the road was "established." Then the road was divided up into precincts and each precinct or section had a supervisor, superintendent (various names) in charge of not only building that section of road, but to keep it passable. He then had "hands" appointed to serve with him and every year that road was checked out to be sure it was passable. Of genealogical interest in the road books (if all counties still have these books, also found in the county order books), is that all the "hands" serving on a portion of the road would have been neighbors. Thus, if you find Robert Roadbuilder as the road boss for a section with hands Don Dirthauler, Roger Rockthrower and Samuel Shovelman working with him, these were his neighbors along that road. Did problems arise? Oh, yes. Robert Roadbuilder might shirk his duties and Don, Roger and Samuel give up. When the road was next checked, fallen trees might lie across the road, potholes deep enough to bury a wagon were evident and rocks thrown by a nearby farmer tossed into the road. Reprimands and even fines could be following or a total replacement of the supervisor. It was a constant battle to keep these roads passable, if we could really call them roads. They were barely ruts, finally up to 18 feet wide and passage along these roads could be limited by the willingness of the crew to work and the elements. Town roads fared better normally; the town fathers saw these daily. But they were nothing to write home about. Just dirt, rutted and looking much like the roads seen in old westerns where the young ladies had to hoist their skirts over their ankles to cross the street with the mud holes and the wagons splashing mud all over the citizenry. It was not until years later that the technique called macadaming the roads appeared. Some streets were covered with wooden planks to cover the mud holes but that wasn't much of an improvement. The road crew also had other responsibilities - that of building bridges over the waterways. Some were just basic bridges which amazingly were wonderfully done and held up for many years. The hardest though of the bridges and the most beautiful were the covered bridges. They were not only awesome to the eye but served the purpose of protecting people, livestock and wagons crossing. At one time more than 400 wooden bridges were to be found in Kentucky, but most of these have been torn down or fallen down after many years of traffic. Local woodworkers joined with the road crew to erect these bridges; there was much lumber available with which to build them. There was a complex system of trusses holding the roof and sides in place. The builders could build the bridge on the shore and then roll it into place, pulling and pushing while standing in the water The sides were then built and the roof followed. As with the roads, every male over 16 who was in good physical health had to assist in the building and maintenance of the bridge. There was a certain number of hours each year that each male citizen was required to put in. Today, there are only 13 covered bridges to be found in Kentucky, most built later than the pioneer days which have fallen down many years ago. Bourbon Co: The Colville Bridge was built ca 1877 and is called a double post and brace design. Bracken Co: Walcot Bridge (also known as White Bridge), built in the 1880's. Fleming Co: Goddard Bridge, constructed between 1865 and 1870. Ringos Mill Bridge was built in 1869 near a gristmill. Franklin Co: Switzer Bridge, built 1855 - 120 feet long and 11 feet 6 inches wide, 12 feet high Greenup Co: Oldtown Bridge, built ca 1800. Bennett's Mill Bridge, built ca 1856. This is the longest Standing covered bridge in KY - 155 feet long and is still being used! Lewis Co: Cabin Creek Bridge, built 1873, also known as Rectorville Bridge or Mackey-Hughes Bridge Mason Co: Dover Bridge - a toll bridge built 1835. Valley Pike Bridge, built 1864, still in use. Robertson Co: Johnson Creek Bridge, built 1874 Washington Co: Beech Fork Bridge, also known as the Mooresville Bridge, built 1865. Longest double span bridge, each span is 102 feet long. For a look online at some Kentucky covered bridges, I recommend the following: http://www.millenniumhwy.net/coveredbridges/coveredbridges.html For some idea of the construction of the covered bridge, go to: http://www.summerville-novascotia.com/CoveredBridges/Plans/ This is from a Canadian site and newer (1920) but will give you some idea of the construction necessary. I think we're getting a little better view of how our ancestors lived. They were not only building their own family homes, cleaning out fields of trees and rocks, encountering wild life, watching for Indians, establishing towns, building churches, setting up city and county governments, grinding grain, working on their trades of blacksmithing, carpentry, etc. but in their spare time they were riding patrol to keep the country safe and building roads and bridges. And we complain about commuting to an air conditioned office with massive computer systems and the coffee machine or in our home with washers and dryers, microwave ovens, cable TV, computers that allow us to search the world for information - how times have changed! And, the next time you are driving down a bumpy country lane in Kentucky (or any state), remember, years ago, two lumbering buffalo might have huffed and puffed along this route! (c) Copyright 3 February 2005, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/