Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Repost from Monthly Marathon: A River Walk 2006

This is a repost from the now-defunct blog Monthly Marathon. I first posted this in March 2006.


A River Walk



3.5 miles around downtown last night and 5.6 miles today down the levee (above) to the confluence then up First Ave to the Silver Creek trail. 58.1 miles for the month. Here are a few more pics I took along the way:

Our courthouse reflected in the Oostanaula



The confluence of the Oostanaula (left) and Etowah (right) rivers to form the Coosa River. The bridge at the right is the Robert Redden Footbridge, a former railroad bridge that rotated on the center column so steamboats could continue up the Oostanaula. The bridge at the right takes Broad Street across the Etowah to the foot of Myrtle Hill.




The Silver Creek Trail crosses the Etowah on another railroad bridge turned footbridge (above) then follows little Silver Creek for three-quarters of a mile as it cascades down to the river.


I've lived in Rome since 1962, but I was completely ignorant of these picturesque downtown views until last week!



Notice the nearly vertical sandstone and shale layers, evidence of the crumpling of the former sea floor here in the Ridge and Valley province between the Blue Ridge and the Cumberland Plateau. At our school I can take my kids out to the driveway cut and pull shell fossils and crinoid stems from the crumbly sandstone.



The creek flattens a little as it nears the river.




The 1913 postcard (above) shows a mill on Silver Creek. I suspect the foreground is a bridge over the Etowah and the mill was at the mouth of Silver Creek. Or else it is high water on some other section of the creek. If anyone knows where this picture was taken, please let me know.

2 comments:

  1. Is it possible that is the "Old Rome Railroad Bridge? NC&StL Railroad Bridge? Chartered in 1830's as Memphis Branch Steamboat and Railroad Company? Last run in 1930's or 1940's, tracks taken up years later.

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