The Old Railroad Bridge

This quiet path across the Tennessee River carries more than a century of history. A bridge first crossed here in the eighteen thirties, opening as a toll bridge before a tornado wrecked it. In the eighteen fifties the Memphis and Charleston Railroad bought the route and rebuilt it as a double decked span, with trains running across the upper level carrying passengers and freight by the late eighteen fifties.

Then came the Civil War. As the United States Army advanced, the railroad bridge was burned during the war to slow the enemy. The crossing was rebuilt and used for decades more. Later a preservation effort formed to save it, and today the old span carries walkers instead of locomotives, a long footbridge linking miles of trails in the Muscle Shoals area.