Adventure: 003, Site 003-Wawona Covered Bridge

Gary entering the covered bridge at Wawona

Capture California, the Game-2013

Adventure: 003, Site 003-Wawona Covered Bridge

National Registry ID: 6001261

Team: YOLT

Date:  May 31, 2013

Location:

Coordinates: 37°32'18" N, 119°39'34" W

Address: Wawona

Description:

Date Built: 1857

Architect: Galen Clark

Coming back from a backpack trip, we stopped in Wawona for a few minutes. We then remembered the two bridges in Wawona. The first is the main bridge which is in use, which guides traffic along Highway 41. But the truly “stop-and-look-at” bridge is the old Wawona Covered Bridge. It is part of the Pioneer Yosemite History Center. Occasionally a horse drawn wagon will still cross this bridge, but none today. We were the only ones here, except for one lady. It gives you time to hear the river running under the bridge, the sound of the waters reverberating amongst the rafters.

All Yosemite-bound traffic through here crossed the bridge. The deck and truss portion of this bridge across the South Fork of the Merced River was built around 1857 by settler Galen Clark, who established a tourist facility here. The area was then called Clark’s Station. Clark’s role as one of the original conservationists and innkeepers places him in one of the earliest chapters of Yosemite’s history. After Abraham Lincoln signed legislation in 1864 protecting Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias by creating the Yosemite Grant, Clark was appointed the Guardian of the Grant.

The road from Wawona to the Yosemite Valley opened in 1875 just after the Washburn brothers purchased Clark’s land along the river. The brothers, who were from Vermont, covered the bridge in 1879. Although the large beams were hand-hewn with ax and saws, the lumber to cover the bridge was cut locally at the Washburn’s sawmill. Specialty axes were used to hew round logs into square timbers and mortise and tenon joints were used to join the timbers. Bridges were covered primarily to protect the large wood truss beams and flooring from the weather. It is much easier to re-shingle a roof than to replace the major supporting structures. The covering also helped horses stay focused on the road rather than the sometimes raging river in spring. Did the Washburn brothers cover the bridge exclusively for practical reasons? Maybe so. But a granddaughter claims the reason was nostalgia — they were homesick for a bit of New England.



The bridge was used until 1931 when the Wawona Road was rerouted west to a modern concrete bridge (which, in turn, has been replaced after damage from the 1997 floods). A flood in 1955 nearly destroyed the covered bridge. Its 1957 restoration was the first step in the creation of the Pioneer Yosemite History Center. Glenn Gordo, master craftsman and builder from Mariposa and grandson of a pioneering Portuguese couple, along with his crew, were recruited after the flood to restore the bridge. (PYHCOT)













References:

• Pioneer Yosemite History Center Online Tour (PYHCOT)
  
• Wikipedia
  
• NRHP-Text and Photos
  

Overall Landmark References:

• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)