Buchanan Swinging Bridge

Sway your way across Virginia’s longest river on a rickety wooden Civil War era suspension bridge nestled between the Alleghany and Blue Ridge Mountains.The canal’s construction had been encouraged by George Washington, but progress was halting and the canal project later lost importance because of the advent of railroads. 

The bridge was built in the 1850s. It became a victim of Hunter’s Raid in 1864, when the bridge was set ablaze amid an advance by Union General David Hunter into the Shenandoah Valley. Hunter and his 18,000 troops succeeded in reaching Lexington, Virginia, where they set the Virginia Military Institute on fire and disrupted Confederate supply lines.

In 1877, the bridge was reconstructed, but was later overcome by flooding.

In 1897, the structure was rebuilt as a steel truss bridge and remained in use for all traffic until 1937.  Then, a concrete bridge was built next to it for vehicular traffic, and the swinging bridge was maintained exclusively for pedestrians.

Portions of the stone piers from its initial construction in 1851 remain today.