Readers reveal location of 'mystery bridge' described in new book on Alabama covered bridges

Readers say this bridge was located on Hamburg Road.

The Wilcox Progressive Era has some of the most knowledgeable readers of any newspaper in the state. If you want to know the answer to a question, just put it out there in the paper, and you’ll get your answer. Such is the case this week regarding the unknown covered bridge that I mentioned in this space last week.

Many of you will remember that in last week’s paper, I talked about how a new book by Wil Elrick and Kelly Kazek called “Covered Bridges of Alabama” contains an old photo of an unidentified covered bridge in Wilcox County. The black and white photo, which the authors found in the Alabama Department of Archives and History, showed the bridge as it looked in 1938. Nothing else was known about the bridge except that it was no longer standing.

Even though the photo was taken in 1938, I figured there was a good chance that the covered bridge remained in place for some period of time afterwards and that some county residents would remember where it was located. As it turns out, I was right. Shortly after last week’s paper hit the streets, I began to hear from several readers who had more information about the bridge.

Dolly Albritton was among the first to respond and reported that her mother said the covered bridge was between Snow Hill and Hamburg. Mary Lois Woodson echoed her remarks, saying that more than the likely the bridge spanned Pine Barren Creek.

The next day, I received an e-mail from Cecil Skinner Jr. of Ozark, who said that he knew exactly where the bridge was located. It was between Oak Hill and Snow Hill, on a dirt road near Hamburg. His father, Cecil Skinner Sr., grew up about two miles from the bridge. Skinner also noted that the bridge did cross Pine Barren Creek and was no longer there.

Armed with this information, I checked my trusty Historical Atlas of Alabama and determined that the old community of Hamburg was located on Hamburg Road, a dirt road which runs from State Highway 21, north of Oak Hill, and into Snow Hill. Interestingly, my copy of the Alabama Atlas & Gazetteer does not show Hamburg on the map, but it does show the McBrydes community between Pine Barren Creek and Snow Hill. Google Maps also doesn’t show the Hamburg community, but does show the McBrydes community.

In any event, a more modern bridge now takes travelers on Hamburg Road over Pine Barren Creek. As far as I can tell, no sign of the old covered bridge remains, but it’s easy to imagine the old bridge sitting there deep in the woods.

In the end, if anyone else in the reading audience has any more information about the old covered bridge, please let me hear from you. It would be interesting to know when it was replaced and why. Had it become unsafe? Was it destroyed by disaster or fire? My feeling is there is more to the story of this old covered bridge, and one of the newspaper’s knowledgeable readers just might have the answers to these questions and more.