Before you do anything, after you find this bridge tucked away in the far corner of stone mountain park, take a minute, have a seat at one of the nearby park benches, and just listen to the sound of the bridge as a car crosses it. Yes, it creaks and jostles, but that’s a kind of charm and character that you just don’t hear all to often, while you’re shooting down an interstate. Now that that’s done, The covered bridge at stone mountain is one of the areas that if you’re going just for the mountains, or you don’t have a «what’s down there» mindset, you’ll miss it, and that’s a shame. Located just before you reach the roundabout, hang a sharp right and take and soak it all in, but keep in mind only one car can cross at a time. On either side of the bridge, you get to see Stone mountain’s lake up close, along with a passing kayak or school of ducks/geese. Very nice place to have a picnic, or as I stumbled across by accident, a wedding(sorry guys). It’s one of those«just when you thought you’d seen everything» at stone mountain, here you are with another place to snap some photos. Check it out!
Richard R.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Suwanee, GA
Covered bridges have always fascinated me, but it wasn’t until about May of last year that I decided to begin to seek them out. Georgia has approximately 16 covered bridges around the state of various lengths. Many of them were built by Horace King, a former slave who earned his freedom by being the master of his trade or by his son Washington King.(see my Red Oak Covered Bridge review for more info on Horace: )
HISTORYOFSTONEMOUNTAINBRIDGE Built in 1892 by Washington King using the Town Lattice method, it was originally located in Athens, Georgia @ College Avenue. It was built to span the 162 feet required to cross the Oconee River. Mr. King won the contract to build the bridge with a bid of $ 2,470(which online calculators say is about $ 63,000 in today’s dollars). He also built Watson Mill Covered Bridge(see review: ) and Euharlee Creek Covered Bridge. The bridge was condemned/decommissioned in 1963 and sold February 18th, 1964 for $ 1. It was moved to it’s current location in Stone Mountain Park in March of 1965 at a cost of $ 18,000 and reduced 11 feet to it’s current 151′ length. I wish I would have known it had been condemned prior to driving a car over it 50 years after it was deemed unsafe… LOL! O_o FROM A SLAVESTORYTOBURLESQUESHOW Today it spans a portion of Stone Mountain Lake to reach Indian Island picnic area. It’s been called the College Avenue bridge, the Oconee River bridge, and Effie’s bridge after a nearby bordello(a.k.a brothel). To this day Effie’s is memorialized in a comedy/dancing/strip tease vaudeville burlesque revue called«Effie’s Club Follie.» The show has been described like this: «Think of it as a combination between MTV’s ‘Jackass’ and the talent portion of the Miss America pageant.» History can be fun and it’s hilarious to see where a little research can take you. A slaves story to a modern day burlesque show… life is indeed colorful.
THEVERDICT Anywhoo, Stone Mountain Bridge is a beautiful structure that has been restored from it’s condemned status to light traffic use. It makes an excellent backdrop for wedding pics or vintage family photos. I went with fellow Unilocaler Jamarcus T who is currently the DUKE of Stone Mountain Park and even he was not aware of this bridge. It’s sort of hidden if you aren’t looking for it, but the Unilocal map I set up should easily guide you to it if you are interested in bridges as I am. But don’t expect to see Effie’s brothel girls hanging out on the other side of this landmark… this is a family park for crying out loud!!! LOL Unilocal100 [46]
