Just taking a break from writing about books to talk about recent events a little. I live in the D.C. metropolitan area, and last week was Natural Disaster Week for us and a lot of the east coast. I definitely felt the August 23rd earthquake as I work in Virginia and I was on a step ladder filing something into a drawer. All the metal shelving around me started shaking and making alarming noises. Needless to say, I got down off the ladder and away from the shelves. After it was over, I thought I might as well finish putting that thing back in the drawer, though my heart was still beating fast. A short while later, I heard that we were supposed to evacuate the building. So that was a bit of excitement.
And then there was Hurricane Irene, which in the end didn’t affect me much at all. I was in central Pennsylvania visiting a friend and she didn’t lose her power and when I got home, the apartment was also with power. I have at least one co-worker who is still without power as of today.
But really, it’s my relatives in Vermont that were impacted more. All of them are okay physically and their homes are okay, from what I’ve heard. My grandmother lost power for 24 hours and there is flooding near her and my aunt and uncle who live down the road from her. One of the ‘cut-off’ towns, Cavendish, is quite close to where they live. Another aunt and uncle had been in Rochester, New York during the hurricane and it took them an entire day to get home to Bennington, VT due to all the detours around the road damage.
Some of Vermont’s landmark covered bridges are included in the widespread damage caused by the hurricane. This caught my attention because for the two past Memorial Day weekends, I have traveled up to Vermont with some of my Virginia relatives to visit the Vermont relatives, and we went around parts of the state tracking down covered bridges. Two of the bridges we saw are listed among the bridges damaged by Hurricane Irene. So I thought I’d put up some photos of covered bridges as a tribute of my affection for them.
The first two photos are of the Taftsville Bridge in 2010. According to the Vermont Covered Bridge Society, it has been damaged by the hurricane and is closed.
The next photo is of the Lincoln Bridge in West Woodstock, which is reported as damaged as well. This photo was also taken in 2010.
The other bridges in the photos below are not listed as damaged, as far as I know.
Gorham Bridge:
View from inside Hammond Covered Bridge:
Pulp Mill Bridge:
And this, I believe, is the Seguin Bridge:
A Good Stopping Point 
I’ve never seen a covered bridge in person, but I’ve always loved pictures of them. I hope these bridges survive!
Sorry to hear about all the damage. Those are great photos and I hope the bridges are able to be repaired fully.
What a great thing to feature these bridges. Thank you. Have you seen Sarah’s posting about one near her?
http://maymomvt.blogspot.com/2011/08/vermont-flooding.html
it was a week of weather havoc here on the east coast, wasn’t it? the earthquake startled me beyond belief–i thought i was suffering vertigo from eating a hot dog (something i RARELY eat) for lunch. my chair started moving slowly, swaying as if i was on a boat. as for irene, thankfully, we didn’t suffer as much damage as many of our friends and neighbors. there are still people nearby without power! houses and roads were flooded in neighboring beach towns. but vermont? i have no words. my husband went to college there and we’ve been going there since 1994. i saw on youtube a clip of a building in danby (near manchester) being taken down because it had been destroyed in by irene. the covered bridges that suffered complete loss or damage really upset us. they are so iconic….and just so many of our favorite places–woodstock, brattleboro, jamaica, weston–inundated. well, we are heading up there later in the month to offer our support–in tourist dollars–and hope it helps.
Christy,
Cavendish is on the route we usually take to get to your grandmother’s. Also, the famous Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, used to live in Cavendish.
softdrink – Covered bridges are cool in that they are historic and pretty but also many of them are still functioning as everyday use bridges.
farmlanebooks – Thanks! From what I’ve read in news reports, it does sound like there is already some active mobilization toward repairing the damaged bridges.
Nan – Thanks for the link! It’s a reminder of how much the bridges are part of Vermonters’ daily lives.
Natalie – It’s funny how our East Coast inexperience with earthquakes had many of us thinking it was something else at first. Glad Vermont is a special place as well for you – I’m sure your tourist dollars will be appreciated. I visited Woodstock last year and it is such a pretty town. I found a cool bookstore there.
Dad – yeah I remember that we drove through Cavendish when we would travel from Maine! As a kid, I really liked its name. As I’ve been coming from the south for a while, it’s been some time since I’ve taken that route. I didn’t know that about Solzhenitsyn, but I do seem to remember that there was a book by him on your shelves.