Several questions came to mind.
Is it a bridge or a culvert and when does one become the other and vice versa?
How old is the bridge and how old is the tree?
Did a squirrel lose a nut? Or did some other animal drop the nut down the outside of the bridge into a crack? Could a bird have done this?
Why was the bridge built?
You know me, I had to know...
Asking a civil engineering pal of mine, I found out that a culvert usually is either circular or rectangular in cross-section and has an all-enveloping structure. For instance, a large diameter pipe under a road can be called a culvert. So long as the cross-section is complete (i.e. a roof, 2 walls and a floor), it's a culvert.
Thus this is a culvert - I think... :)
As for the purpose and age of the structure, (see how I deftly avoid calling it a bridge or culvert?) outside of the folks that built the trail I don't think there has been a road here in decades. This bridge is not part of the trail although the trail used to detour over it during its construction.
I suspect the structure was built around the time of the Perkiomen Railroad around 1874 since it appears that the wagon trail was used to bring building supplies and laborers to the railroad bridge site in order to build the where the railroad crosses the Schuylkill River. Furthermore the stone used here matches the stone used in the older part of the railroad bridge (it was obviously rebuilt at least once).
I'm just guessing but the tree looks like a 30-40 year old one to me.
As for how the nut got lodged in the bridge, its anyone's guess!
I don't know what will become of this structure - it has a certain grace - but no modern purpose.
6 comments:
Cool looking bridge. Those squirrels leave nuts everywhere, don't they? (someday i'll post those pics of the squirrels i took a few weeks ago)
Maybe an elf or fairy left the nut there.......
I love the tree growing like that, I hope no one ever cuts it down....
I found a nut once when out at the lake at Petersfield, I put it in the car and took it back to the lunatic asylum, they said fanks for bring back our nutter :)
x
Oh dear, Iggy, you make my head hurt. Too much thinking. Love the picture, tho. So unique with that tree growing out of the "structure"
*huggssss*
Looks to me like the bridge/culvert serves a very important purpose. It provides a way to cross the creek (that is water running below, right?) without having to walk through the water.
Gotta ~LOVE~ that jaw dropping title....
I reckon it was a pixie... The little pixie probably decided there needed to be a tree there so traded a squirrel the nut in return for a jar of peanut butter and planted the nut there to make the tree grow. Yup! That sounds logical to me! :)
Post a Comment