As promised, we took a picture from roughly the same vantage point. Dense vegetation made it impossible to take it from the exact same place. Paul had to actually walk quite a way out on the existing railroad bridge to take the shot. In both pictures, you can see the existing railroad bridge in the lower right corner. You can see the obsolete abutments for the covered bridge and the long gone railroad bridge on the other side of the river. The abutment for the railroad bridge is taller and partly covered with greenery. The bridge in the modern picture with the car on it is altogether new.
*** UPDATE *********************************************************
We kayaked around this area and made new discoveries. We talked to the owner of the canoe/kayak rental place that occupies the north side of the West River there. He actually owns the obsolete abutments on that side of the West River. He was quick to realize that the postcard picture was taken from the south side of the West River. We had assumed that it was taken from the north side because the railroad bridge was on the left. The bridge in the postcard picture was actually the long gone West River Railroad bridge. You can see the taller West River Railroad bridge abutments right next to the covered bridge abutments.
The picture was probably taken from the south side of the existing railroad bridge which also existed at the time of the picture (someone may have called this the Boston and Maine Railroad bridge ?). You can see what is probably part of the abutment for this bridge that still exists in the lower right hand corner of the postcard picture. We plan to take a picture from the same vantage point and publish it with the postcard picture. Stay tuned.
Paul and Debbie 6-22-2014
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Back on August 17, 2010, I wrote this post called Covered Bridge. I was comparing a postcard from the 1920's that was in my grandmother's photo album, to a modern day covered bridge, Creamery bridge in Brattleboro, VT. I assumed that they were the same bridge because the Creamery bridge is very close to where my grandparents lived in Brattleboro when my Aunt Dot was born.
Someone named Phil B left a comment on my blog pointing out that the pictures were two different bridges. Ever since then I have been wanting to find the correct bridge in the postcard. Whenever I thought about it when we were in Brattleboro, I either didn't have the postcard with me, or I didn't feel like trying to find it on my blog. A few days ago Paul and I took a ride to Vermont and we looked for that bridge. Paul is really good about finding places. The postcard said that it was over the West River in Brattleboro, so using a map, he found the bridge.
This is the postcard ~
This is what the new bridge looks like today. It is called the Vermont Veterans Memorial Bridge (Rt 5) ~
We found the railroad bridge over the West River and walked down to the bank and found, in between the new bridge and the railroad bridge, what we think are most likely the concrete abutments of the covered bridge. This is where the West River empties into the Connecticut River.
I love doing things like this, finding remnants of what used to be old things.
I wish I knew how to contact Phil B to say thank you for pointing that out and also to show him that I found the correct bridge!
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