| Crossing The Pee Dee River |
This is a true tale of one of the many adventures
when I was a young boy about 13 to 15 years old.
Boys that age are always looking for some new
adventure to try their skills at. Well, this is one of
those and, it was a pretty dangerous one at that.
I am sure that most people living in Richmond County
are familiar with the Pee Dee River that divides
Anson and Richmond Counties. Highway 74 crosses
the river with 2 double laned bridges. I am not sure,
but I believe these bridges are about 1/4 mile long.
My cousin, Mike McKenzie, runs the Discount
Furniture Co. on the right leaving Rockingham right
before you cross the bridge.
When I was young, if I am not mistaken, there was
only one bridge for both directions of traffic. If
there was one or two bridges at the time doesn't
make much difference as far as this story goes. But
the way this bridge was built was a mighty
fascinating thing for young boys. Under the bridge,
from one side to the other, were arches. I don't
remember how many arches there were, but there
were plenty. It seems these arches were about 3 or
4 feet wide. Now where the columns came up through
the arches, you would barely have enough room on
each side to get by.
Me, my three brothers, Mike - and I believe, his
brother, Billy - decided this bridge was built this
way to give access to each side of the river from
the bottom. It is unknown which one of us came up
with this idea but we all decided to get to the other
side by climbing up these arches and down again -
over each arch until we got to the other side. I
remember it was a very tight squeeze trying to get
around the columns each time.Of course, we had
little concern for the big Pee Dee River flowing
approximately 50 to 100 feet below and how
dangerous this really was. There was no guardrail or
anything that would keep us from falling to a watery
grave. But, like I said, young boys have little
concern for dangers because it is the adventure that
they are after. We made it across and by God's
grace, none of us fell from this bridge.
This is just one of the many tales of growing up in
Rockingham and some of the "stupid" things we do as
kids.
If any viewers out there have crossed this bridge
like we did, I would love to hear your story.
when I was a young boy about 13 to 15 years old.
Boys that age are always looking for some new
adventure to try their skills at. Well, this is one of
those and, it was a pretty dangerous one at that.
I am sure that most people living in Richmond County
are familiar with the Pee Dee River that divides
Anson and Richmond Counties. Highway 74 crosses
the river with 2 double laned bridges. I am not sure,
but I believe these bridges are about 1/4 mile long.
My cousin, Mike McKenzie, runs the Discount
Furniture Co. on the right leaving Rockingham right
before you cross the bridge.
When I was young, if I am not mistaken, there was
only one bridge for both directions of traffic. If
there was one or two bridges at the time doesn't
make much difference as far as this story goes. But
the way this bridge was built was a mighty
fascinating thing for young boys. Under the bridge,
from one side to the other, were arches. I don't
remember how many arches there were, but there
were plenty. It seems these arches were about 3 or
4 feet wide. Now where the columns came up through
the arches, you would barely have enough room on
each side to get by.
Me, my three brothers, Mike - and I believe, his
brother, Billy - decided this bridge was built this
way to give access to each side of the river from
the bottom. It is unknown which one of us came up
with this idea but we all decided to get to the other
side by climbing up these arches and down again -
over each arch until we got to the other side. I
remember it was a very tight squeeze trying to get
around the columns each time.Of course, we had
little concern for the big Pee Dee River flowing
approximately 50 to 100 feet below and how
dangerous this really was. There was no guardrail or
anything that would keep us from falling to a watery
grave. But, like I said, young boys have little
concern for dangers because it is the adventure that
they are after. We made it across and by God's
grace, none of us fell from this bridge.
This is just one of the many tales of growing up in
Rockingham and some of the "stupid" things we do as
kids.
If any viewers out there have crossed this bridge
like we did, I would love to hear your story.
| So, as the Train of Life keeps chugging along, another page written of my Childhood Memories of.... Rockingham Remembered. |
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