Railroad Bridge, Fredericksburg, VA

Railroad bridge across the Rappahannock River

I stopped in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia, on my way to visit my son this past weekend. Traffic along I-95 made it dark before I got to town, so I made sure to rise with the sun the next morning in search of the fanous Rappahannock River railroad bridge.

It's a concrete, eight (or so) span open spandrel arch bridge. The bridge is in active use by cargo and passenger trains; there is a beautiful Amtrak station just a block west of the bridge. It's a wonderful river crossing in its on right, but this is not the bridge that made Fredericksburg famous.

This bridge is very near the former site of an earlier bridge -- a bridge that was instrumental in one of the most one-sided battles in the Civil War.

Mural of the bridge on a Fredericksburg wall

In December of 1862, Union forces, desperate for a victory, were looking for a victory against Confederate forces entrenched in and around Fredericksburg. Blocked by the Rappahannock River, a tributary of the Potomac River, the two sides stared at each other until the Union Army could deliver sufficient pontoon bridge segments to build a bridge across the river -- which the army proceeded to do, under continual fire from the Confederates.

The pontoon bridges prior to the Battle of Fredericksburg (ca 1862)

The Union army, encamped on the east side of the river very near George Washington's boyhood home, crossed the pontoon bridges, taking heavy losses, and entered into close combat with the Confederates among the streets and homes of Fredericksburg, eventually making a concerted effort to break the fortified lines on Marye's Heights.

They failed and were forced to withdraw. Union losses were twice those of the Confederates, a bitter loss that shook the North's already fragile support for Lincoln's War.

A riverboat idles at Fredericksburg's City Dock as geese fly overhead

Fredericksburg today is an arts center for the area and home to the University of Mary Washington. It has a thriving night life and is extremely bicycle-friendly -- many of the city streets encourage bicyclists to use the entire right lane.

It also sports the second largest mall on the East Coast, the Central Park Mall, which makes travel on the outskirts of the city problematic during shopping hours.

Bridge from the pumping station

Beautiful bridge, beautiful city.

Union Station Bridge, Hartford, CT

Union Station & Bridge

It was an absolutely beautiful morning. Temperature was rising fast; 36F when I decided today was going to be a biking day, 42F by the time I left the house.

I've had breathing problems all my life. My parents and their friends were professional smokers and had to keep practicing every chance they got. I didn't take a clean, uncongested breath until I moved away from home and got away from smokers (and then I married one...).

The cold snap this month kept me off the road most days, and today I was huffing and puffing my way to work. It's almost full time biking season again and my lungs will get strong again, but it's going to take work, and every year it takes a little more work than the year before.

Nevertheless, I had to stop and take a picture of Union Station (on the left) on the way to work; such a beautiful old stone building. And since this blog is technically about bridges, there's the Amtrak bridge coming into the station.

I've passed under that bridge a thousand times, but I've only been on it once. A year ago last Christmas, I was coming back from celebrating Christmas with 2/3rds of my sisters in Somerville after a Christmas-day blizzard had shut down Boston's South Station. A day later, I managed to get a seat in one of the first trains out as they cleared the tracks.

This winter couldn't have been more different.