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Port Royal State Park is a 26 acre (105,000 m²) recreational area on the border of Montgomery and Robertson counties in Tennessee. The community of Port Royal is its namesake. The Red River runs through the center of the park, and the covered bridge at Port Royal once crossed it.
The day-use only park offers hiking, picnicing, canoeing, fishing, and photography. The museum and visitors center shows a rich history of the area, with artifacts, tools, and weapons from indigenous peoples, through frontier life to the Civil War era and up to the present day.
Historically, it has been an early colonial community and trading post and the crossing of the Cherokee Indians along the Trail of Tears. Later the crossing became a major stagecoach route in the 1880s. In 1977, the State of Tennessee received the deed to 22 acres (89,000 m²) of land at Port Royal, and designated it a State Historic Park in 1978.
History of the Port Royal Covered Bridge
The Port Royal Covered Bridge was an example of a Pratt truss design and significant due to its composition of wood. It was reserved only for foot travel.
The date of the first bridge built at the crossing is unknown, however it is known that it was washed away in the Flood of 1866. In 1903, a second bridge was built. Disaster occurred when the bridge collapsed 200 feet (60 m) while workmen were removing false support timbers, sending three workmen and one bystander into the river. One of them died in the fall. The bridge was rebuilt in 1904 and served the area until 1955, when a new concrete and steel bridge was erected along side it. The old covered bridge deteriorated until it collapsed into the river in 1972.
In 1977, when the area was acquired by the state, the bridge was once again rebuilt. Disaster would strike again when on June 10, 1998, flooding and tornado activity severely damaged the bridge. When the waters receded, only half of the bridge remained.
External links
"Port Royal State Park"