THE BRIDGES OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY

COLUMBUS HAS THREE BRIDGES THAT WILL INTEREST ANY ONE WHO LOVES BEAUTIFUL BRIDGES, each within a few miles of each other, and ranging in style from a traditional covered bridge nestled in a city park, to a cable-stayed bridge situated to frame a stunning entrance into the community. All three bridges are located on the Columbus People Trail and you can even cross two of the bridges.

The New Brownsville Covered Bridge

The New Brownsville Covered Bridge is the focal point of a beautiful circular pond in the award-winning Mill Race Park, created by the legendary landscape designer Michael Van Valkenburgh. The hundred-foot bridge is the only long-truss structure in Indiana and it can transport you all the way back to 1840, when it was built to cross the East Fork of the Whitewater River near Brownsville. The bridge is also a stop on The Indiana Covered Bridge Loop – you can connect with this fascinating chapter in American history. The bridge is also, you will quickly realize, an ideal backdrop for selfies for your Facebook and Instagram posts! Get more details about this bridge, which has a vertical clearance of 13.5 feet.

The Robert Stewart Bridge

The Robert Stewart Bridge, just around the corner from the Brownsville Bridge, frames the entryway into downtown Columbus and beautifully demonstrates a modernist merging of art and engineering as the first cable-stayed bridge of its kind in North America. The bright red steel supports connect steel tension cables arranged in an arc that is dramatically lit in the evening hours. Renamed Robert N. Stewart Bridge in 2013, the bridge now recognizes Columbus’ three-term mayor.

In addition, if you are adventurous and can venture off the well-trodden path, Columbus also has two bridges listed on The National Register of Historic Places – New Hope Bridge, on County Road 400 N, over the Flat Rock River and Pugh Ford Bridge, on County Road 900 N, over the Flat Rock River.

The Indiana Covered Bridge Loop brochure

DOWNLOAD The Indiana Covered Bridge Loop brochure – 9 bridges, 6 counties, 1 great time! For those of us who grew up in Southern Indiana, we remember being loaded into the family station wagon and driving down a winding county road on a pilgrimage in search of a covered bridge. We were too young to fully understand the historical significance of these bridges – we just thought they were very cool.

Copies of this brochure are no longer available, but you may print your own copy at home.

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