The graceful four arch stone bridge over the Goose Creek just off today ’ s Route 50 west of Middleburg was built about 1802 during Thomas Jefferson ’ s first term as President . It represents one of the last four remaining structures of its type in Virginia . It was part of the old Ashby ’ s Gap Turnpike ( today ’ s Route 50 ), built privately and financed by tolls ( 3 cents / horse ; 12 cents for a carriage or a score of cattle ). In 1863 it was the site of an important Civil War clash between Generals JEB Stuart and Alfred Pleasonton , as Stuart tried to screen General Robert E . Lee ’ s movement from the advancing Federal army as he moved north toward Gettysburg . It carried road traffic until 1957 and was maintained for many years by the Fauquier and Loudoun Garden Club . It is now the center of a 20-acre public park , remains open to pedestrians and is the regular
site of re-enactments of its Civil War role . Other notable stone arch bridges that do carry traffic span the Little River on Route 50 at Aldie and the National Register listed Hibbs Bridge ( built in 1829 ) on the Snickersville Turnpike over Beaverdam Creek near Mountville .
The nine panel 159-foot-long iron truss bridge over beautiful Catoctin Creek at Featherbed Lane ( Route 673 ) was originally erected in 1889 to span the Goose Creek on the then called Leesburg Turnpike ( today ’ s Route 7 ). In 1932 , when Route 7 was improved , the whole bridge was creatively reused by being disassembled and moved to its current location . It is the one of the few — and the longest — 19th century iron truss bridges remaining in Virginia , and it still carries road traffic today over its wood plank road surface . The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 . The Virginia Department of Transportation is in the process of upgrading it to carry heavier local traffic while retaining its historic appearance and designation . An old one-lane concrete arched bridge still carries traffic safely over narrow and unpaved Greengarden Road in Loudoun ’ s southwestern corner . The bridge and road are in Loudoun ’ s unique Beaverdam Creek Historic Roadways District — a particularly scenic and historic part of our rural road network . This is an example
Top : Built about 1802 , the four arch Goose Creek Bridge is 200 feet long ; left : the John C . Lewis iron truss bridge was dismantled in 1932 and moved to its current Featherbed Lane location over Catoctin Creek .
30 wander I fall • winter 2020