The Bailey Island Bridge is located in Harpswell, Maine on Route 24. Before the making of the bridge, the fishermen that lived on Bailey’s Island wanted a bridge that connected their island to Orr’s Island. The town of Harpsweell made and voted on their decisions in the weekly town meetings (“Bailey”). The project was stalled because of some of the mainlanders in the town, but it was brought back up for discussion in 1912. They first agreed on a “road” which would connect the two islands and would be constructed with timber. This was to cost $3,000. The cost quickly reached $25,000 at a later town meting because they decided to build the bridge with stone and concrete instead. Once the legislature decided to pass a bill stating that it would fun state’s highway and bridge projects, they decided to move forward with the project (Hansen, 36).
This bridge was necessary to the people of Harpswell due to the weather changes making it impossible for the fishermen and their families to cross from island to island. They used their fishing boats when the weather cooperated, but when storms arose and when the water
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froze, it was impossible to get back and forth. Orr’s Island was already connected by a bridge to the Mainland, so this bridge would give the people of Bailey’s Island access to the Mainland. Choosing the bridge design was difficult for the people, but in the end, it turned out to be one of the most unique designs and constructing processes. Many people submitted designs to the Supreme Court, but Edward’s design is the one that ended up being used. Edwards had engineered many bridges and rail lines in Canada and earned degrees in civil engineering from the University of Maine. He also became a bridge designer at the Boston and Maine Railroad as well as the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. After two years, he became the bridge engineer for Maine State Highway Commission. When Edwards began to examine Will’s Gut, he realized many things. The first being that there is a ledge or reef that extends between Bailey’s and Orr’s Islands. Portions of the ledge were exposed when the tide was low. Edward realized that this construction would be nothing ordinary. Between the rapid tide, the blocking of the fish vessels, and the effect of ice floes colliding with a timber structure, Edwards decided to use concrete. This bridge would be different from anything he has ever done before (Hansen, 35). The bridge was supported by cribwork that was made up of thousands of granite ties. The stones came from quarries nearby Yarmouth and the ledge that extended between the islands supported the cribwork. He cut the stones into ties that looked similar to the timber cribbing in dams and piers. The difference in the granite ties and the timber ties were that the slabs of granite were irregular. In order to get the slabs to sit on top of each other, the workers had to cut and pace flat or wedged-shaped “pinning stones” in the uneven gaps. These slabs were especially useful because they could withstand the heavy wind and the waves were able to flow freely without increasing the normal tide because of the open cribbing (Hansen, 37). All of this constructing was done with the use of steam shovels and cranes (“Bailey”). At the end of the bridge construction, they added a concrete roadway to the top of the granite cribs. This constructing process was long and gruesome but ended in a bridge that would go down in history and be listed in the National Register of Historic Places (Crawford, n.p). The contract for this bridge was signed in 1926 and the constructing began in 1927, and was finished in 1928. Although, it did not seem like very much time passed to create the bridge, the people had to wait for what seemed like forever due to the process leading up to getting the contract signed (Hansen, 37). After the main part of the bridge was constructed and finished, it had many additions added to it. In 1951 they added a sidewalk to the bridge on the side of the road. Next, they added guardrails to the bridge in 1961(“Bailey”). This bridge was recognized as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in July of 1984. It was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. This bridge is known to be the only one of its kind in the world, meaning that it is the only cribstone bridge. Many constructors, photographers, tourists and more admire this bridge. This bridge lasted many years until it was ready for reconstruction to repair parts of the bridge. The main repairs they had to undertake were cracked and sheared stones. Because the people still had to get from island to island during the repair, they had to make a replacement bridge. They placed an 1,000 ft bridge on the side of the cribstone bridge so the traffic could continue during this process. During the reconstruction the replacement stones were taken from the exact same quarry that they were taken from in the original bridge. They were taken from the Yarmouth. When reconstructing the bridge, they did not change the design or shape of the bridge, the bridge maintained the same dimensions that the original bridge had (Hansen, 37). When the revisions of the new bridge were done there was a ribbon cutting to celebrate the reopening of the bridge. The bridge design is 1,500 feet long. It was said to use close to 10,000 tons of granite in order to complete this project and make this bridge. This covers about 3 acres of water to reach from the island to the mainland. The bridge is very long and covers quite a bit of water; this is why it took them so long to build this bridge. Not only did the length of the bridge effect the time it took to build it, but the heavy and unique tools used to make the bridge also effected the time. This bridge brought more than just transportation to the people. It was a huge moneymaker for the people due to the increase of tourism. This changed the community completely. The construction of the bridge went hand in hand with the advent of the automobile. This is the same time where people began to transport by cars and an increase in summer vacations was present. Now people could come visit the Island because of the bridge and the fact that cars could reach it without any other transportation. The people’s economy prospered from all of the tourism that it brought and it truly changed the ways of the town. This also helped them have easier access to the mainland. After the bridge was built the people’s lives changed a lot because it made such a big difference on their society. There was a huge decline in shipbuilding at this time due to the new ‘fad’ of the automobile. Now, here is the background on how Bailey’s Island came to be and it’s very first ancestors. It is said that the first people to populate the land of Bailey’s Island were the European settlers in the 1600’s. The first name for the Island was Newaggin which was a name given by the local Abenaki Native Americans. Then it was later named Will’s Island. It got its name Will’s Island because the first settler’s name was William Black. He was a freed slave from Kittery, Maine and he took possession of the Island in 1772 after spending many years there (“Bailey Island History”). It wasn’t until 1742 that reverend Timothy Bailey bought Will’s Island. He bought the island for a pound of tobacco and a gallon of rum. The Island was awarded to the Bailey’s and William Black went to live on Orr’s Island. After William Black left, the name was referred to as Bailey’s Island. Will’s gut is the only geographical feature that still has the same name as its original non-native inhabitant of Bailey Island. Originally the people believed there were two bridges like the Bailey Island Bridge, one in Scotland and the Bailey Island Bridge. Now, it has been proven that the Bailey Island Bridge is the only one of its kind. Because of it’s unique construction, the bridge can withstand the substantial tides of the area and get them to flow freely through he bridge. This reduces the effect that the flow would have on the boats transitioning through its narrow channel opening. Boats can now fit through the bridge quite easily, despite the small opening and crazy tides of the area (“Bailey Island Bridge”). The tourists love Bailey Island and the Islands around it because it is rich in tales of pirate treasure and adventure. It is said that gold was found on Elm Island, Cedar Ledge and Pond Island. There is also an old tale that claims that there is a murdered pirate who stands over Pond Island and guards the buried treasure. The unique tales and beautiful sights of the Bailey Island and the islands surrounding it attract many tourists (“Bailey Island Bridge”). The Bailey Island Bridge changed lives for the people that live in the area.
Not only has it been a huge cultural monument, but it also has changed the economy of the area. The area no revolves so much on tourism and that is where a lot of their money comes from. Originally, all they wanted was access to the mainland because the people were struggling to get by, but once the bridge was made things changed in a different way. This brought a lot of tourism to the area that they were not originally expecting. This was a necessity of the people and turned out to be a great addition to their area once the bridge was made. There was a lot of talk and it took awhile to pass the building of the bridge, but in the end they made a good decision to build the bridge. This bridge is also very unique in it’s own way, being one of the only bridge’s built in this
way. If this was built today, I think the main thing that would’ve been different about the construcing of the bridge would be the tools to get the granite slabs from their location to the construction site. I also think
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