Euharlee Covered Bridge

She Runs and Laughs Map

Euharlee Covered Bridge
From Euharlee Covered Bridge


In part four of my 17 part series., “Better know a Georgia Covered Bridge ,” I traveled a little over an hour Northwest of Atlanta to the town of Euharlee, Georgia , a town so happy its very name means “She laughs as she runs.” Now I’m not all that certain what she’s laughing at or running from, but what I found was a quaint little town near Cartersville, where they are building a park around the Euharlee Creek Covered Bridge .

inside the Bridge

This bridge sit’s a stones throw off Stilesboro Road, on Covered Bridge road, at spans a majestic 137 feet in length and better than 16 feet in width. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and part of the Covered Bridge Trail of Georgia. It is considered historic, probably because it was built by an contractor of African Descent, the son of Horace King , W.W. King (though some sources indicate that another man helped in the design and construction), and its age, being constructed 120 years ago. The bridge is constructed in the town lattice style and has interesting number marks and insignia still visible which gives it a quirky sort of “paint by numbers” feel.

Bridge across Euharlee Creek

This bridge was commissioned to be built in 1886 by Daniel Lowry, owner of Lowry’s Mill and most of the land around the area, after a more poorly constructed bridge collapsed killing one man (a Mr. Nelson), a mule, and a horse. The new bridge has yet to claim a life and serves as the centerpiece of what seems to be a new park endeavor for Euharlee. They even have a big festival celebration each Labor Day Weekend.

the Ruins from the Bridge

Three notes of interest about this site: first, the ruins of Lowry’s Mill remain a short walk away from the bridge and are fully accessible, and yes I do have a thing for ruins. Second, there seems to be a museum operated by the locals put in a nearby shed. There is an interesting story about that place written by a Kennesaw State student here . And finally a couple of blocks up the road is a Black Pioneer Cemetery filled with very “Blair Witch Project” looking unmarked stick cross grave markers. There’s purported to be better than 300 buried there. I mean no offense to anyone by saying that it looked creepy, but we hit this place just as night was falling and it gave me a disconcerting feeling (Should one feel comfortable in a Cemetery?).

Lowry’s Mill Ruins

There is more to see in the Bridge Area as they are restoring some other nearby old buildings. I look forward to one day seeing the completed project. It appears that the city of Euharlee knows how to preserve its culture, so I put this here as a suggestion that you take advantage of it.

Euharlee Creek beneath the Bridge

1 comment:

  1. Euharlee is a must see destination for anyone wanting to go back in time. My husband's Great-great grandfather was Elihu Nelson who died when the original bridge collapsed. The general store was run by Elihu Nelson until his death. The next project Euharlee has is rebuilding the grist mill next to the bridge. The little house by the library is a museum with Euharlee memorabilia. The people of Euharlee are wonderful keepers of their history.

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