23 May ‘09 Saturday
We weren’t able to kayak up to the “Fallasburg Covered Wooden Bridge” yesterday, so we decided to drive to it today. The bridge is 14 feet wide, 100 long, and an inside clearance of 12 feet. Hung above the passageway is a sign that reads: “$5.00 fine for riding or driving on this bridge faster than a walk”… Do you think their serious? Fallasburg is not an incorporated area, but it was an important area back in the early 1800’s. It was a major stop for the stage that ran from Ionia to Grand Rapids and, it was a location for a large factory that manufactured chairs. Just after passing through the bridge, we found the old school house that is now a museum and a couple other buildings
We weren’t able to kayak up to the “Fallasburg Covered Wooden Bridge” yesterday, so we decided to drive to it today. The bridge is 14 feet wide, 100 long, and an inside clearance of 12 feet. Hung above the passageway is a sign that reads: “$5.00 fine for riding or driving on this bridge faster than a walk”… Do you think their serious? Fallasburg is not an incorporated area, but it was an important area back in the early 1800’s. It was a major stop for the stage that ran from Ionia to Grand Rapids and, it was a location for a large factory that manufactured chairs. Just after passing through the bridge, we found the old school house that is now a museum and a couple other buildings
that were identified as belonging to the early families arriving from the east in 1827. About 5 miles further up river is another covered wooden bridge we wanted to visit.
The White’s Bridge was built about 5 years after the Fallasburg Bridge at a cost of $1,500 and is 20 feet longer. Both bridges have had some repairs made to them over the years, but they still have stood the attacks of floods and heavy snows and still be around and useful 100 years later.