Smith Point Landing & Tangier Bridge

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This photo circa 1914 was taken from either a rooftop or tower at Smith Point Landing where the Coast Guard would establish their base - outpost. At this time The Smith Point House was a summer restaurant and hotel. Originally only accessible by boat, the Hedges would build a larger hotel there about 1917. The wooden bridge was only supposed to be a temporary one replaced by the opulent Tangier Bridge that went the way it's Tangier developer Frederick J. Quinby did.....south

photo courtesy Post Morrow Foundation via Marty Van Lith

 

It appears to be either a car or truck crossing over the bridge. Within a few years ice damage would make vehicle crossings too dangerous . Bridge was wiped out by ice and rebuilt several times before disappearing completely by 1930. It would be another 30 years before another one replaced it

LONG WAIT FOR A SHORT BRIDGE
THE SMITH POINT BRIDGE STORY
1910 - 1959

 

SPOTLIGHT PHOTO ARCHIVES