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 "Experience the Craftsmanship of Our Timber Frames" Blue Ridge Timberwrights |
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Planks of History Timbers with stories to tell will form a covered bridge that will welcome visitors to Old Salem Winston-Salem Journal - June 13, 1998 Story by Amanda Barnett  Photos by David Rolfe |
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| For almost 60 years, logging booms formed a channel in the St. Lawrence Seaway. Chained together, the 14-by-14 timbers kept stray logs from floating into the inlets and disturbing water transport, and rivermen walked across them when working on the boats dotting the river that formed the boundary between New York and Ontario. But with the decline of river transport, those timbers weren't needed anymore. Today they form a base for the construction at Old Salem of what is believed to be the first covered bridge built in North Carolina since the turn of the century and one of only three existing in the state. Visitors will walk across the bridge, which crosses the Old Salem bypass and connects the new parking lot to MESDA. "We wanted an entrance that would reflect 19th-century type of construction," said Linda Benzie, a spokeswoman for Old Salem.But the timbers forming the base are not only ones with stories to tell. Almost all of the timbers used for the bridge were once used for something else. Several made of Southern yellow pines once were pilings for a pier built in the 1800s in Charleston, S.C. Some timbers came from the Champion paper mill in Canton. Built in the 1800s on the Pigeon River. Other timbers came from Boston Harbor and the Chesapeake Fertilizer plant in Virginia. The tight rings that show these timbers' ages are more symmetrical and closer together than trees of today, said Jim Callahan, a shop manager for Blue Ridge Timberwrights, the subcontractors for the project. "These trees grew up in a forest, not like the farms they grow on now," he said. "Trees today are not as strong as the recycled ones." The rings aren't the only sign of the trees' ages. Dark black circles throughout the timbers are iron deposits from nails. But nails won't hold this bridge together. Wooden pegs will replace most of the nails; only a few nails will be used on the siding and copper roof. The timberwrights use mortise-and-tenon joints to support the bridge. Notches are cut out with chisels, and the wood slides together. Only a few bolts are used. This method dates back to about 500 B.C. and was used until about 150 years ago, when technology became advanced enough to create machines to cut two-by-fours. Though the timberwrights use old materials and a traditional way of building, they mainly use modern equipment. "We make a high-quality product but adapt more efficient methods," Callahan said. "We shoot for traditional results with modern technology." But the trees aren't the only ones coming from around the continent. Workers from Maine, Virginia, Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia are coming to craft different projects."Most people do this type of work because of the high quality. They know it will outlast them," Callahan said. He said that he used to build cabinets but realized that when someone got tired of his product, they would just replace it with something else. But when he builds a product from recycled timbers, he knows that people will do whatever it takes to preserve it."People have such respect for this construction they will take a barn and move it somewhere else if it supposed to be torn down," he said. The 120-foot, 240,000-pound bridge is being built next to the spot where it will eventually sit. A crane will lift it into place. The bridge should be open by late August."It has to be sturdy enough to be loaded with people, jumping up and down like they were watching a parade," he said. |
 THE TWIN SIDES OF THE COVERED BRIDGE, WHICH WILL SPAN 120 FEET, TAKE SHAPE ON THE FLOOR OF A FACTORY IN OLD SALEM.  KNIGHT IDLE, USES A CIRCULAR SAW TO TRIM A TIMBER HELD STEADY BY DEAN HAWSLEY.  A BOLT LIES ACROSS A "CHORD" OF BEAMS, BOLTED TOGETHER AND CURVED TO PROVIDE STRUCTURAL TENSION FOR STRENGTH IN THE WOODEN TRUSS BRIDGE.  A SLEDGEHAMMER RESTS ON A 40-FOOT BEAM THAT ONCE WAS A PILING IN BOSTON HARBOR. THE HAMMER IS USED TO SEAT THE BRIDGE'S WOOD TIMBERS IN PLACE. WOODEN PEGS WILL REPLACE NAILS IN A CONSTRUCTION METHOD THAT DATES TO 500 B.C. |
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