Poole's Mill Bridge

The site of this bridge dates back to the 1820's (see more information about the area). The original construction of this bridge began with a contractor who drilled all the holes in the lattice members in the wrong place. After fitting up the pieces he realized they were in the wrong place and abandoned the project. Work was finished by Bud Gentry, but it required drilling new holes in the old members. You can still see the misplaced holes today. Even the treads of the bridge are members that could not be used because of the misplaced holes. Treads with holes side-by-side were to have been used in the chords, while those with diagonally offset holes would have been lattice members.

Though this bridge looked very beat up before rehabilitation, it was quite sound structurally (see Stovall Mill for a bridge that looked sound and wasn't). With the addition of a new pier in the middle, new weatherboarding, and a new wood shingle roof, this bridge looks as good as new. And maybe better.

The pier in the middle of the creek was built during the 1998 rehab to take the sag out of the bridge and provide support. First a cofferdam was built and water was pumped out to give a dry work area. The bridge was the jacked up in the middle, whcih lifted its end off of the abutment.

Over a few days, the bridge deformed under its own weight and settled back onto the abutment. Incremental jacking continued until the bridge was reasonably straight. Though it never was made totally straight, the weatherboarding was cut straight along the bottom to hide the sag. For the sake of authenticity, the pier was given a smooth concrete finish rather than trying to make it look like part of the original bridge by finishing it with rock facing.

Forsyth County made a commitment to this piece of local history by using local option sales tax money to construct a park with parking, a pavillion, and even horseshoe pits.

• County: Forsyth
• Other names: Pool's Mill
• Length: 94.6 ft.
• Width: 14.5 ft.
• Built: 1901
• Builder: Bud Gentry
• Truss: Town lattice
• Stream: Settendown Creek
• Road name: Adjacent to Poole's Mill Road
• Traffic: No
• WGCB Number: 10-58-01
• Parking: Yes
• Picnic area: Yes
• Historic marker: Yes
• Owner: Forsyth County