South Carolina's Oldest and Onliest Bridges

Story and photos by Tom Straka

I have recently highlighted some attractions along South Carolina's Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway (S.C. Highway 11) in this ezine, a way to avoid most of Interstate 85 while travelling between Charlotte and Atlanta. There are two attractions on that route, which do not have any formal organization sponsoring them, but have the appeal of being located in beautiful natural settings, with enough history to be included in the National Register of Historic Places. They are South Carolina's oldest bridge and its last remaining covered bridge. By coincidence, they are only seven miles apart as the crow flies, or 14 miles by road. Both are very close to the Foothills Highway, presenting a great opportunity to visit a couple of really charming bridges. Both are located east of the intersection of the Foothills Highway and U.S. Highway 25.    

The Oldest Existing Bridge in South Carolina -- Poinsett Bridge

The oldest surviving bridge in South Carolina, and maybe the Southeast, is only three miles from the Foothills Highway, all on paved roads. In 1820 a major state road was under construction to connect Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. The state was willing to invest in a major road to eastern Tennessee to access those markets for Charleston. The lower portions of the new state road were built mainly on ridgelines between watersheds, allowing for minimal bridge construction. However, once the road reached the mountains, that was no longer possible. The road would cross the Blue Ridge Mountains into North Carolina via the Saluda Gap and the road from Greenville to the North Carolina line was called the Saluda Mountain Road. This section required three major bridges. Only one of them still remains, the Poinsett Bridge, now the oldest extant bridge in South Carolina. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Directions to the bridge are online.

A couple of big names are associated with the bridge. Robert Mills may have designed the bridge. He was the architect for many of South Carolina's buildings during this period and also designed the Washington Monument and the Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. The bridge is named after John Poinsett, who was president of the South Carolina Board of Public Works at the time of construction. Poinsett served in Congress and as Ambassador to Mexico, but is best known for introducing the poinsettia flower to the United States.       

The most distinctive aspect of the bridge is its 14-foot gothic arch, accommodating the flowing Little Gap Creek. The Society of Architectural Historians considers the gothic revival arch bridge worthy of a report that described it as: "The granite used in building the bridge over Gap Creek was mostly quarried about a quarter-mile east of its span. Its 15-foot-high by 7-foot-wide Gothic arch is constructed of wedge-shaped rocks. The arch itself has a decorative design that utilizes alternating relief in the voussoir stones, with every other stone projecting about one inch from the primary plane of the arch. The passageway above the arch had stepped parapet walls on either side for the safety of travelers. The 130-foot-long bridge has a 24-foot height from the water level to the top of the parapet walls. According to notes from Poinsett's diaries, he hired 100 stoneworkers from Burn Frankford of Pennsylvania and 50 stonemasons from Jonah Teny of Boston. These skilled northern laborers also completed two other bridges along the Saluda Mountain Road: the North Saluda River Bridge and the Hodges Creek Bridge."

There are stories of the bridge being haunted. Explanations for the haunting vary. One credits some of the workers who died during construction (likely of malaria, which followed them up from the Lowcountry). Rumor has it that one of the workers was buried inside the bridge. Another credits a man, shot dead on the bridge in 1861, who returns at the stroke of midnight when it rains. Visitors report orbs or floating lights over the bridge and screams coming from under the bridge. When trying to flee the specters, they have reported sudden car troubles hindering their escape.

Poinsett Bridge, stretching 130 feet across Little Gap Creek, 24 feet in height, with 14-foot gothic arch, and constructed of stone without mortar. 

Historical marker at the Poinsett Bridge.

Portion of a map of Greenville District, South Carolina, from Robert Mills' 1825 Atlas of the State of South Carolina. The mountains to the north are the North Carolina boundary. The roads going south lead to Greenville. If you look closely, there is a bridge over Little Gap Creek—what later would be called Poinsett Bridge. To give a measure of scale, the distance from Poinsett Bridge to the North Carolina boundary is four miles.  

Only Remaining Covered Bridge in South Carolina -- Campbell's Covered Bridge

Campbell's Covered Bridge is located just three and a half miles off of the Foothills Highway, all on paved roads. It was constructed in 1909 and closed to vehicular traffic in 1984. The bridge spans Beaverdam Creek, is constructed of pine with a metal roof, measures 38 feet long and 12 feet wide, and uses the rare Howe truss design. It sits on a rock foundation with a concrete cap.   At one time South Carolina had 20 covered bridges; today only this one remains. Directions to the bridge are online.  

It was built by Charles Irwin Wills, a talented local builder, and is named for Alexander Lafayette Campbell, who operated a grist mill about 50 feet downstream from the bridge (the gristmill remains can still be seen downriver). It is now surrounded by a small park with a nature trail nearly a mile in length. In the first decade of the twentieth century this part of northern Greenville County had four covered bridges; Campbell's Covered Bride was the largest and most important one. It connected a number of near-by rural communities and small towns. Trips that might have taken a full day before the bridge were reduced to about an hour after construction. Before the bridge, the only crossing of Beaverdam Creek was a narrow rock shoal.

Campbell's Covered Bridge was listed in the National Register of Historical Places in 2009. The nomination form provides the specifications of the bridge: "Campbell's Covered Bridge is a four-span Howe truss bridge with counter braces. The two outer spans are 9' long and the two inner spans are 8' long. Each truss is 4" X 8", and each counter brace is made from 2" X 8" pine boards nailed together in an interlocking pattern. Vertical tie rods called kingposts, made from 1" diameter iron rods, are in between each span, tying the top and bottom chords together. This method of truss construction absorbs and transfers a passing vehicle's weight to the rock abutments one each end of the bridge. The siding of the bridge consists of 1" X 6" pine boards with 1" battens covering the joints. Siding covers the three wooden buttresses that jut out on each side of the deck, forming a triangular shape and sheathed with cedar shakes. A gable roof of five-V galvanized steel covers the structure. The bridge is open at both ends, with a gap at the top between the siding and roof to allow for air circulation. The deck is made from 2" X 6" pine boards. The trusses are exposed on the interior of the bridge."   

Head on view showing the road bed and some of the interior. The primary reason for covering a bridge was to protect it from severe weather. Unlike Poinsette Bridge, Campbell's Covered Bridge is not haunted. However, picture it at night in the 1920s with an avenging angel of death driving a horse buggy across the bridge. A scene from the 1981 horror movie A Day of Judgment was filmed at this location with that avenging angel coming out of the bridge to seek justice.      

View of the side of the bridge, with an abutment showing. The builder allowed the truss ends to follow the natural lay of the land and built the rest of the bridge to fit. As a result, and by design, the bridge is neither square nor plumb. 

View of the interior structure of the bridge, with exposed trusses, consisting of wooden upper and lower chords, which are linked together with sets of dual iron rods and wooden braces and counter braces.    

The bridge is worthy of a state historical marker.

 

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