West Road Bridge
Last weekend Beth and I went for a walk after church. We decided to walk around an old bridge over the Merrimack River. As you can see from the photo, the bridge is no longer functional. It used to connect Canterbury to Boscawen, but it hasn’t done that since around 1965. And yet, here it is still.
Both Google Maps and my Tomtom GPS recommended this as a good way for me to get to Concord from my house. I disabused my Tomtom of that notion and reported the error to Google. Google eventually saw the wisdom in my recommendation to remove this bridge from its database, but it took them a year (they did get back to me on that though).
Penny loved it here. I let her off her leash as there were no people around. This is a popular swimming hole in the warm months – not so much now though. Penny kept us supplied with sticks, as is her wont.
There is a geocache in this area too. I looked for a it a couple of times but was not able to find it. Then I noticed one day that it had been stolen from its original location, replaced, and hid somewhere else. No wonder I couldn’t find it. Armed with the new coordinates, Beth and I made quick work of finding it.
There was another one upstream from there, but I didn’t think we’d be able to get it. It is supposedly located on an island. I figured that if the river level were down enough, we could probably reach it, so we set out in that direction.
There are some fields along the river here, with signs that say something to the effect of “The walking public are welcome, but snomobiles and ATV’s are not.” That’s my kind of place! We walked through a post-harvest cornfield and found this fly in a milkweed pod:
Fly on Milkweed
I tried to get his picture while he was still inside the pod, but that disturbed him too much, and he made a quick exit. I guess it was too cold for him to go very far though, so I managed to get this shot.
American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)
There was lots of this stuff growing on the banks. I didn’t know what it was, though I have seen it before. When I got home I looked it up and found that it is American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). It should not be eaten (unless you want to vomit).
When we got far enough upstream where I could see the island, I could tell there was no way we could cross over to it without swimming. By then Beth was ready to go back home (though Penny was not), so we turned around.
Jomegat's Weblog 
November 16, 2011 at 8:48 pm
I love those old bridges, i just can’t go past one without investigating.. sounds like you had a lovely walk! such a good thing to do! c
November 16, 2011 at 8:54 pm
They will be taking this one down pretty soon. It was designed by one of Concord’s mayors a little after 1900, so they plan to do something or another with the steel once they dismantle it. I don’t remember the mayor’s full name, but his surname was Storrs, and one of the streets I take my Concord walks on is named after him.
I would be pretty happy if they would put a new one up in its place, but that’s not in the cards. It would make an excellent bicycle route from home to the office, as it would provide a fairly direct route apart from the Interstate.
November 17, 2011 at 12:57 am
That’s an interesting old bridge: too bad it can’t be replaced.
That’s sad about the GPS considering it part of a good route. There have been several deaths up in these parts partly because of faulty map information from a GPS unit that was in the hands of people without a shred of good judgement. Nevertheless…
November 17, 2011 at 9:34 am
I reported the error to Tomtom, but it would cost me $50 to find out if they ever did anything. I think it’s ridiculous to pay that kind of money for ONE update. I’d pay it for a lifetime update, but for whatever reason, they don’t offer that for my model. They DO offer it for other models, which just boggles my mind even more.
I know that Google gets its nav data from an upstream source, and I would hope that they fed that info back upstream. If so, Tomtom should eventually get it and the world can be a safer place (for those with $50 bucks anyhow).
November 17, 2011 at 3:40 pm
$50 would be a bargain. They want $79 to update mine and Dean’s. He just bought a new unit instead. Got one on sale for the same or less. Tom-Tom also sells a model with lifetime updates, but it was advertised at over $400!
November 18, 2011 at 8:17 am
Enjoyed the photo of the bridge. The mystery of a bridges lifetime and the lives it affected so interesting.
November 18, 2011 at 8:20 am
I think what surprises me most about this bridge is the fact that it has been closed for over 40 years – and not only is it still there, it was until very recently still considered a viable roadway by the map makers.
In my younger days I would have been tempted to cross it (on foot). No way would I attempt that now.