Natural Bridge of Virginia

25 March 2021

Natural Bridge is a nearby "attraction". Now a state park (2016), for many, many years it was privately owned and had a pricey admission fee. Consequently, I'd been twice with Brownies and Cub Scouts, which were offered greatly reduced admission, but Lon had never seen the bridge. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond currently has an exhibition on Natural Bridge ("Virginia Arcadia: The Natural Bridge in American Art"), and this renewed our interest in seeing the landmark in person, so we decided it was time to make a visit.

Back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Natural Bridge was a natural attraction on a par with Niagara Falls. It was a must-see destination for the adventurous traveller willing to go to the relatively unsettled western part of Virginia. With the opening of the western national parks such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion, it became less popular and less well known.

The natural arch is 215 ft (65.5 m) high. It's far more impressive than I remember. Even after having been to Arches National Park (Utah) and Red River Gorge (Kentucky - three previous posts here), Natural Bridge holds up well. It is also the only "natural" bridge that I know of that is actually used as a bridge - US 11 (Lee Highway, Valley Highway) goes over the top of the bridge. In the future the highway will most likely be re-routed off the bridge to help preserve it.

It's difficult to take a photo from the other side of the bridge. Cedar Creek takes a turn that makes the bridge nearly invisible until you are right upon it.

Another part of the park has a 4-mile hiking trail that has a nice overlook with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east.

We hadn't expected that early spring wildflowers would be in full bloom, but the display along Cedar Creek was spectacular.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

There are two species of Hepatica, differing only in the shape of their leaves (round-lobed, Anemone/Hepatica americana, and sharp-lobed, Anemone/Hepatica acutiloba). Flower color ranges from white to pink to lavender. Also known as "liverwort", some thought the leaves' shape was reminiscent of liver.

Round-lobed hepatica and bloodroot.