Country Drive and a Covered Bridge

It was such a beautiful day that Mike and I decided to take a leisurely drive through some small towns in this area. We began by driving Highway 109 from LaGrange through the community of Mountville. Mountville is the oldest settlement in Troup County. The community hasn't changed much through the years. I t consists of the First Baptist Church of Mountville and the First United Methodist Church of Mountville. There is an elementary school, you guessed it, Mountville Elementary. The land is beautiful. We followed Highway 109 until it brought us to Greenville. Greenville is a quaint little town with beautiful antebellum houses. We stopped off the road to snap a few pictures which included the courthouse. From there we continued on the same highway to Woodburry and took highway 85 north until we came to Covered Bridge Road. We turned east and

followed this road until we came to Red Oak Creek Bridge. This covered bridge was built by Horace King, a freed slave. He built many bridges in the west Georgia area but this is the last one of this type standing. It was built in the 1840's. It is the oldest covered bridge in Georgia and probably the sturdiest. Cars can still cross through this bridge and did while we visited. The length of this bridge spans 391 feet including the approaches. The bridge was constructed on the Town lattice design with web planks that criss-cross at 45 to 60 degree angles and are then fastened at each intersection with a total of about 2,500 wooden pegs or trunnels. A little piece of history.

The saddest part was seeing the abuse the bridge is taking with graffiti being written all over the wood. It really makes me angry and sad to see such beautiful structures treated with such disrespect. Everyone that walked up while we were there made the same comment about the graffiti and how sad it was.

We left Woodburry and followed Highway 85 until we got to Manchester and from there we drove over "the mountain." The mountain being Pine Mountain which led us into FDR State Park.

We topped our day off with a stop at San Marcos for a soft taco and chips/salsa.

It has been a wonderful day! The temps have been around 72 degrees and the sun has been shining in a deep blue sky. We enjoyed our Saturday afternoon drive through the countryside and discovering a little bit of covered bridge history.