Mississippi River Flight - Day Six - Part Three
Mountain Empire Airport, Virginia to Essex Skypark, Maryland
A few weeks ago Lynnette and I toured the Natural Bridge (from the ground). So, of course, after that I wanted to see it in the air. It is fairly close to the Virginia Safari Park and Pink Cadillac restaurant.
Below center is the Natural Bridge Museum, although it is mostly closed because of the Chinese Flu. The Natural Bridge itself is behind it and to the right. It's down in a gorge so you can't see it very well from the air. I don't think you could find it if you hadn't seen it from the ground first. You really have to know what to look for.
The picture does not convey how massive the stone bridge is. I forget the exact number of tons of stone overhead but it's a lot. If it ever fell and you were under it, game over!
Supposedly, the Natural Bridge was the remnant of an underground river tunnel. Over time, through weathering and erosion, the underground river collapsed and disappeared almost completely, the Natural Bridge being the only surviving relic of the roof of the ancient underground river. Cedar Creek's larger flow contributed to form the present-day gorge, significantly increasing the distance from the bottom of the water flow to the roof of the underground channel.
The first white man to see Natural Bridge was a frontiersman named John Howard in March 1742. He — along with his son and others — was commissioned by Governor Gooch to explore the southwest of Virginia as far as the Mississippi River. The party followed Cedar Creek through the Natural Bridge, then floated in buffalo-skin boats down the New, Coal, Kanawha, and Ohio rivers to the Mississippi.
The view from the other side.
Natural Bridge was one of the tourist attractions of the new world that Europeans visited during the 18th and 19th centuries. Vacationing guests from all over the world took day trips from Natural Bridge on horseback or horse-drawn carriages to explore the countryside. In 1833, a new owner erected the Forest Inn to accommodate the increasing number of people.
The bridge had considerable notoriety during the 19th century. Herman Melville alluded to the bridge in describing Moby-Dick: "But soon the fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia's Natural Bridge..." William Cullen Bryant, another American literary figure, said that Natural Bridge and Niagara Falls were the two most remarkable features of North America.
Passing by the Virginia Military Institute -- the West Point of the South -- in Lexington, Virginia. Lots of cadets are out on the parade ground.
VMI cadets and alumni played instrumental roles in the American Civil War. On 14 occasions, the Confederacy called cadets into active military engagements. VMI alumni were regarded among the best officers of the South and several distinguished themselves in the Union forces as well. Fifteen graduates rose to the rank of general in the Confederate Army, and one rose to this rank in the Union Army. Just before his famous flank attack at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Jackson looked at his division and brigade commanders, noted the high number of VMI graduates and said, "The Institute will be heard from today."
