Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, North Kingstown-Jamestown, RI

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge

Rhode Island is the country's smallest state but among its most densely populated. With Narragansett Bay splitting the state in two, it has miles and miles of protected coastline -- and a straight shot for any hurricanes heading up the coast, aiming straight for Providence, at the northern tip of the bay. The "island" in Rhode Island is Aquidneck Island, the large island in the bay where Newport stands. It was also known historically as Rhode Island; the mainland portions of the state were known as the Providence Plantations, and that is the full name of the state -- Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

I was headed to Newport this weekend to take in the America's Cup. So very, very crowded. So crowded that I couldn't take the crowds and left to take pictures of bridges and walk around Providence for a couple of hours.

The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge connects the town of North Kingston with the island of Conanicut in Narragansett Bay. It is a concrete box girder bridge with a dramatic rise to allow ships to sail through on their way to Providence. Unlike its partner on the other side of the island, the Pell Bridge, there is no toll on the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge. And though there is a narrow sidewalk on both sides, you cannot walk or bicycle on the bridge.

Giovanni da Verrazzano monument in Providence

It's no coincidence that two bridges in the area (this one and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island) are named after famed explorer Giovanni da Verrazzanno. Unlike Christopher Columbus, who was content to explore the Caribbean and never sat foot on (what would become) North America, Verrazzano sailed up the coast from the Carolinas to Newfoundland, stopping in New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. It was he who, upon seeing Aquidneck Island, compared it to the Greek island of Rhodes and gave the state its eventual name.

There is a monument to the explorer in front of the World War Memorial in Providence.

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (from Jamestown)

This picture was taken on in Jamestown on Conanicut Island, with the sun to my back instead of right in the camera.

This entire island, and the Kingstown coast, are the exclusive domain of the wealthy. There is no beach access that I could find at all. The first picture was taken from the parking lot of a private club; this one from the side of the road. I got the shots, but I could have gotten better ones.

You can barely see in the above photo, to the left of the central rise, a lighthouse peaking out from behind a column. This is the Plum Beach lighthouse, but I think you'd actually have to be sailing on the bay itself to get a decent picture.

Parking, well, there really isn't any. Plenty of places from which to view the Pell Bridge on the other side, but the west coast of the island is all private property from any possible viewing angle.

Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge, Stratford-Milford, CT

Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge

I thought I'd be running out of bridge pictures too fast, so I slowed to posting just once a week. That's kinda backfired, and now I have many bridges on the pile to discuss. Part of my reluctance with some of them is that they are... just bridges. You have the exciting ones, and then you have the more or less standard ones, like this one, the Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge, which takes the Wilbur Cross Parkway over the Housatonic River between Stratford and Milford.

Route 15 here continues west toward New York and becomes the famous Merritt Parkway, of which I've written. On the Stratford side of the bridge is the Sikorsky Aircraft Company. They make helicopters.

You may have heard of them. The helicopter they have mounted in front of the factory is the first thing I noticed about the place :)

The bridge itself is a standard beam bridge. There is a nice pedestrian/bicycle walkway on the north side of the bridge leading up from a loop park which also extends beneath the bridge. It's a very pleasant stroll, and even though it was pretty chilly the day I went, there were a lot of people enjoying it.

Estuary

You can tell from the barrenness that this was taken a couple months ago. They call this field an estuary, but it looks mowed, which kinda doesn't have the same connotations of unspoiled wetlands that the word conjures up for me. Elkhorn Slough back in Moss Landing -- now there was an estuary.

If anyone asks, I would totally move back to the Monterey area if I could swing it. And I'd take my daughter and her family back with me, cuz I'm totally selfish like that.

Anyway, the Sikorsky Bridge is one of the last bridges on the Housatonic I had yet to photograph. There's the possibility that I will do another state-spanning photography day with the Housatonic, because I'm pretty sure all the bridges along it are easily accessible. Unlike the Connecticut River as it flows through Massachusetts; that river twists and turns and little thought is given to tourists. I tried to get the French King Bridge on my way up to Cow Hampshire last weekend, and had to give up. The only way I could see to get a picture without trespassing in someone's yard on a hill a half mile away (and I was tempted) was to get on a boat.

Anyway I'll probably write that bridge up just to get it off my camera.

Charter Oak Bridge, Hartford-East Hartford, CT

Charter Oak Bridge

It doesn't carry as much traffic as the Bulkeley Bridge, and it isn't the city centerpiece that Founders Bridge is, but the Charter Oak Bridge, the third (and newest) of Hartford's bridges across the Connecticut, has its own reasons to shine.

The Charter Oak that gave its name to the Hartford neighborhood where this bridge lands is a tree of legend in Connecticut. In 1662, the story goes, King James II decided that the colonies had had quite enough of this independence thing and appointed a governor, Edmund Andros, over the newly created Dominion of New England. When he arrived in Hartford to revoke Connecticut's charter, he was shown it, and then the candles blew out. When relit, the charter was gone -- hidden, it was said, in a huge oak tree, the Charter Oak, in south Hartford. In 1689, Andros was deposed and the Dominion of New England dissolved.

The original Charter Oak was split by lightning 150 years later, but its descendants live on, and the wood of the original tree was made into a chair which stands now in the State House.

Connecticut has always prided itself on its independence -- it was the first state to ratify the Constitution. The Charter Oak is Connecticut's symbol.

Charter Oak Bridge from the tour ship landing

The East Hartford side of the bridge stands in a small park which is (unfortunately) rather marshy. The Hartford side ends in Charter Oak Landing, the main dock for boats both personal and commercial in Hartford.  The Lady Katherine river tours leave from here. (The boat used to leave from Riverside Park near Founders Bridge, dunno why they moved down here). The public landing is on the south end of the park; the north end gives magnificent views of of the Colt Park section of Hartford (marked by the colorful dome on the old Colt Firearms factory) and of the Hartford skyline.

Charter Oak Landing

This picture may have been processed a little bit. I was having some fun with the new version of Picasa. You can see the Colt factory dome on the left of the photo.

Obligatory car shot

I don't honestly know how to get to the park in East Hartford. I've only been there on my bike, and I got there from the bridge itself, which features a wide, separated bike path on the north side. Charter Oak Bridge carries routes 5 and 15 over the river; following those signs will get you there. Or just click on the location information beneath this post and use Google Maps to get you there.

I've gotten to the end of this post without talking much about the bridge itself. You can see from the pictures that it's not all that special, a very modern girder bridge built with steel and concrete, similar to the East Windsor river crossing. It was built between 1988 and 1991 to replace an earlier bridge at the same point. Anyone going from I-84W to I-91S will cross the bridge and will never see the beautiful parks beneath it.

Bridge Picture of the Day: Founders Bridge, East Hartford-Hartford, CT

I can't figure out the weather this winter. Today it was like March. In January. No way I wasn't going to bike into work today.

While crossing the Bulkeley Bridge, I saw ice which had been crawling toward the middle of the river last week, retreating toward the banks today. In the background is Founders Bridge, that takes Route 2 from East Hartford to Hartford and has one of the nicest pedestrian/bike walkways in the area. Great River Park on the East Hartford side looks across the Connecticut to Riverside Park in Hartford. Both are rich with sculptures and places to sit and watch the Connecticut roll by.

I'm saving the Hartford area bridges for huge posts later on. I use them every day and I want to give them the coverage they deserve. They might peek into pictures now and then.