As we continued with our Flickr-mail exchanges, and as I started to investigate her Profile and Links, I found out that Kim also runs the “365 Things to do in Chester County” on Facebook, which I have been a Fan of for a long time, and have used the suggestions to figure out stuff to do with the kids!
Kim and I agreed to talk more after the Holidays, but hopefully, sometime soon, you will read about my suggestions of what to do!
In checking my Flickr email this morning, I was surprised to see the following:
Photo and Photostream for the month of November.
Andrew, I am happy to inform you that your Photostream and photo of Glen Hope Covered Bridge will be featured in our Group for the month of November. The photo is really beautiful and we do appreciate you posting it with us.
Who would have thought, that back on July 4th, 2010, when I finally signed up for a Flickr Pro account, that three months later, I would be passing 10,000 views on my Photostream!
At that time, I had maybe 200 views, if I were lucky!
After joining and participating in numerous Flickr groups, I have been rewarded with the First of hopefully many Milestones in terms of viewers!
10,000 Views on Flickr Stats page!
Needless to say, I am HONORED I definitely would like to say thanks all my visitors!
And please remember to check back to see what new images I have posted!
I missed this bridge the last time I was down here in September by ‘fat fingering’ the GPS coordinates and driving into a townhouse area without any creeks, streams or rivers!
Waking into the bridge, I looked for the plaque, which is located on the Northern side of the bridge.
Glen Hope Covered Bridge (1889) – Sign
While taking my images of the plaque, a truck pulled up to the Southern entrance, and I signaled it go continue.
As the man passed me, he stopped, and we began to talk, and after a minute or two, he pulled over, and we began to talk more.
He introduced himself as Jamie Crouse of Crouse Auto Body in Elkton MD, and had lived in the area all his life.
Jamie also pointed out the char marks from the arson fire that destroyed the bridge in 1987.
Burn marks on floor – Glen Hope Covered Bridge (1889)
Jamie continued to explain that a great of effort was made to recover as much of the original wood as possible for the rebuilding, which included Bongossi wood from Africa.
If you look closely at the floor in this picture, you will see large indentations, which were caused by the burning bails of hay and gasoline used to start the fire.
Some of the vertical posts still show charring from the fire.
He continued to say, that the two men responsible for the bridge fire are still in jail, and had also been linked to other arson attacks in the area.
On a more humorous side, he recalled that during his teenage years, two local girls visited Glenn Hope and other local covered bridges of the area, and carved “Boobless Wonder Strikes Again” on the down-creek side and “Woogie” on the up-creek side of the trusses.
We chatted a little more, and thanked him for the background info, and then he was off.
So now, where do I start my images?
The lighting was bouncing all over the place!
There was a stormy cold front passing over the area.
Short bursts of direct sun light, followed by various types of clouds, dark ones with rain and white fluffy ones.
Exposure nightmares!
But since I was doing HDR images any way, it really was not an issue.
Glen Hope Covered Bridge (1889) – Looking South
In this image, you can see the Sun light popping in some areas, but not others.
HDR and ‘Mother Nature’ work wonders some times!
Underneath Glen Hope Covered Bridge (1889) – Looking South
What I find most striking in this image, this the different layout of the support beams.
This was the first time that I saw the short ‘horizontal’ support beams instead of the long full-length ‘vertical’ beams of the other bridges, and certainly makes for a different visual capture!
I moved West up the Little Elk creek, and was able to capture this image looking East.
Looking East (Down Creek) – Glen Hope Covered Bridge (1889)
After my presentation, I got to chat with several folks about the bridges, and during one conversation, I was introduced to Joe Chamberlain, who was tasked with removing and repairing the bridge after the cement truck damaged the bridge in 1968.
He not only confirmed the story, but went on to tell me, that the truck had started over the bridge, got about halfway, when the rear of the truck fell through the decking. He also questimated that there were about 8 yards of cement in the truck, at +/- 4400 pounds/yard, or 17.6 tons on a maybe 10 ton limit bridge!
Mr. Chamberlain went on to tell me, that the top of the cement truck was still above the deck level, and that he and his crew had to dig into the creek bed to lower the truck enough for them to get it out.
