A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

covered bridges

Photo Blogging Challenge (June 2013): Bridges

OK, so being the procrastinator, I waited until the end of the month to actually take my photos. That being said, I knew from the beginning what I was going to do … I just needed to decide how to do it.

A quick side note — when I finally got to doing this, something is wrong with my 17-40 mm lens. It won’t focus — even manually. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this with a zoom lens, so I decided to get a bit artsy and use my Diana lens for all of these shots, which is why you’ll see that “dreamy” look to all of them — the older, plastic lens sort of idea. I like how they came out, too, so it made this even more fun.

Anyway, back to scheduled programming…

I’m a covered bridge nut.

For those of you who don’t live around or haven’t seen covered bridges, I feel for you. After all, these are some amazing structures. If you get the chance to see them one day — especially older historical ones — they are worth checking out and exploring a little.

I am lucky enough to have several in my area, all of which are historical. There are three within 30 minutes of me, with a fourth about 60 minutes or so. There are more than 20 historical covered bridges in New York, but I’m not sure of the exact number at this time. A couple of years ago, there were 24, but when Irene came through, it took out at least Blenheim, and there’s a chance one other was taken, too. That one is on private property, however, so I’m not sure.

These bridges are a throwback to yesteryear. The basis behind the covered bridges is they lasted longer because the roof protects the wooden bridge. There’s an old tale that it also helped farmers as having cows cross bridges with tops was easier. I’ve not seen that printed too much, so that might just be something that used to be said.

Anyway, these bridges are pretty amazing. The way they are built and how they stand are pretty amazing.

What I decided to do was deal with just one of the local bridges and take images from different angles, in and out. This is Fitch’s Bridge, which spans the West Branch of the Delaware River on the outskirts of Delhi. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the bridge was built in 1870 and moved to its current location in 1885. In 2001, the bridge received a massive restoration and it still stands strong today.

Without further adieu, here are my five photos for June.

1. One Lane Bridge

I love this view of Fitch’s Bridge, though it’s better other times of the year. I took one during the winter a few years ago and it’s still one of my favorite images of this bridge.

One lane.

2. Five Dollars Fine

I love these old signs on the covered bridges. And I always like trying to catch when people walk through the bridge as the silhouette is a cool piece to a photo like this.

Five Dollar Fine.

3. Looking upstream 

This is a view through one of the windows on Fitch’s Bridge, looking up the West Branch of the Delaware River.

Fantastic view.

4. Fitch’s Bridge

A view of the bridge from Back River Road.

Fitch’s Bridge.

5. Magnificent structure

Of all the covered bridges I’ve seen, Fitch’s Bridge is still my favorite.

Still the best.

And that’s my five for the month of June. I hope you enjoyed the series.

If you took part this month, make sure you link up below. And for those who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment and visit so we can continue to grow this challenge.

Don’t forget, too, to come back Monday and see the theme for July!

NOTE: I also set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Photographing covered bridges is shooting a lost era

Millbrook Covered Bridge is one of the 14 historic bridges in New York I’ve had the chance to photograph.

I think I’ve finally caught up on most of my covered bridge photos.

I’m a covered bridge nut. Shooting these structures is like Americana. It’s somewhat like a lost era. When these bridges were magnificent and really appreciated. As time goes on, some of these bridges get into disarray, wash away or moved and allowed to fall apart. In time, many of these structures will be gone, so documenting them is something for the future as well.

However, sometimes I take a bunch of photos and then squirrel them away and post. Alas, I wanted to get them up and into sets and collections on Flickr.

I know I have some others to work on, mainly from a trip a few years ago where I got to see a couple in southern Pennsylvania and Maryland. Those are almost ready. I just need to get them labeled and uploaded.

I’m supposed to be heading to the Philadelphia area this weekend for a pair of disc golf tournaments. On Friday, my goal is to play an early practice round to see the course and then I want to cache in the area. Three caches are tours of covered bridges in Bucks County. Three caches cover many miles and 12 covered bridges. Of course I’ll add other caches along the route, but I’m super pumped that I’ll be able to shoot all those new covered bridges. At least that’s my hope. Plans can change, of course.

In my lifetime, I’d like to see as many covered bridges that I can, so if I can squeeze a dozen this weekend, I’d be pumped. Disc golf, caches and covered bridges. With the weather supposed to be cool and sunny, it sounds like a perfect weekend.

One of my favorite shots of Fitch’s Covered Bridge.

Some of my recent Flickr uploads include four historic New York structures — Millbrook, Forge, Tappan and Jay, all of which I found earlier this year. There are 24 historic bridges listed on most sites for New York. Unfortunately, Irene in 2011 washed away Blenheim. So that means 23 remain. A few years ago, I had set a goal to shoot each and every historic bridge in New York.

(Two excellent sources for New York covered bridges include: New York State Covered Bridge Society and Covered Bridge Site).

I’ll include all 24 as I, thankfully, has been to Blenheim.

Of the two dozen listed, I’ve now visited 14 of the bridges. Two of them are purely accidental. Let me explain.

Several months ago, a new cache was listed in our area. It was a covered bridge, so I decided to head over and make the find. After finding that one at Millbrook Bridge, I decided to head to another that was hidden at another, more modern covered bridge. Along the way, I passed two other covered bridges. Figuring I was here, I took photos. One was private, so I stayed on the main road and took a few snaps. I then went to the modern one and then tucked all the photos away.

Then, as I was trying to figure out what covered bridges I had been to/shot and which I needed to visit, I realized these two were historic bridges.

Score!

So that helped the total.

Of the remaining covered bridges, three are private. One seems to be able to be shot from the public road, one is at an educational place where permission is likely not too hard to get and the final is at a place not far from me, but appears to be hard to get permission. That might be the tough one. I do have a phone number, so I’ll see what I can do to be able to secure permission. I have heard, however, that the bridge has been quite damaged from the 2011 floods.

There are also a handful of authentic and non-historic covered bridges in the state, but for now, I’m concentrating on the one list.

Somebody jogs through Hamden Covered Bridge.

It looks like I’ll have some planning to do.

That being said, by looking through my list of covered bridges, I realize I often take different angles (as well as the traditional ones), but I don’t focus on some things others do, such as the inside. Though I find the trusses for the bridges highly interesting, often it’s tough for me to get good photos. A lot of times, I want to make sure I capture what draws me to the bridges, which is more of the outside.

In the near future, I’ll be updating my Flickr collection with more covered bridges — ones I’ve already shot and ones I hope to shoot this week. Then my quest for the remaining 10 I need in New York will continue.

You can see my collection of sets on Flickr. It will be constantly updated as I add more bridges.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Perrine’s Covered Bridge

Perrine's Covered Bridge in Ulster County (New York)

During a recent geocaching outing to the Poughkeepsie area, I had the chance to see Perrine’s Covered Bridge.

Perrine’s is the second-oldest covered bridge in New York, so that was kind of cool.

For those who didn’t know already, I’m a bit of a covered bridge nut. I’m a big fan of seeing new ones and photographing as many as I can. In my area, there are three historical covered bridges within 30 minutes of each other.

In New York, there are 24 historic covered bridges. These are my favorites as most have stood the test of time, though some may no longer be open to vehicle traffic. I’d love to, eventually, see all 24 of these bridges. Alas, a few are private and at least one of those appears to be near impossible to get permission to see the bridge. That’s a shame as these are magnificent structures.

Two of those said private bridges are in my county. I’m going to see what kind of research I can do to attempt to be able to eventually see these bridges, but I don’t know if it will work out well or not.

Apparently, too, there is a non-historic covered bridge in my county as well. I’ve found a little info on it, but I’m not sure if it’s on public or private property. It seems to be an “authentic” covered bridge, but just not historic.

Of the 24 historic bridges in the state, I’ve now visited nine of them. I’ve also seen three in Maryland, one in Pennsylvania, and one in Vermont. I’d like to try and see a few more in New York this summer and maybe a couple in other states, if the chance is there.

As for Perrine’s…

It’s a really beautiful bridge. The main road zips past it on one side and the other side is picturesque. There’s a trail on the opposite side of the bridge from the road which is where one of the caches is. The bridge, itself, is also a virtual geocache.

The bridge was built in about 1844 and appears to still be in good shape.

According to Wikipedia, the bridge hasn’t had vehicle traffic since 1930. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 13, 1973.

This is worth the stop if you are in the area.

And if you see covered bridges anywhere, check ’em out. They are usually quite a cool thing to look at — especially the workmanship and craft of the historical ones.

You can see the rest of my photos of Perrine’s Bridge on my Flickr site.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.