11/26/2024
Eye spy our office on the far-right! 👀
My hometown is Louisa Kentucky in Lawrence county Ky. Louisa Fort Gay Bridge posted here connects two states Ky and Wv. What’s interesting is the bridge crosses two rivers. It also has a stop light and an intersection in the middle. The land in the center is called point section and it runs along the border between the two States. On the left is the Tug River that borders W.v. On the right is the Levisa River on the Ky. Side. Below the bridge is the start of the Big Sandy River that flows into the Ohio River. Right below the bridge is also where the first needle dam was built in the United States. I’ll post part of an old article about the bridge.
It was officially opened to the public at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27, 1906 with Flem McHenry as bridge-keeper. The original toll charges were three cents each for pedestrians (two cents to go to or from the Point Section) and 15 cents for a car and driver plus three cents for each passenger.
The bridge reportedly was featured in Robert Ripley’s “Believe It or Not,”syndicated to hundreds of newspapers around the world. The span was considered unique because it crossed two rivers, connected two states, two counties and two towns and had three exits-entrances. A common local joke in giving directions was to tell someone to “Drive to the center of the bridge and turn right.” Such a turn carried a traveler from Louisa to the Point Section between the Forks of Tug and Levisa.
The final tolls were collected on Thursday, September 30, 1971 from Governors Louie B. Nunn of Kentucky and Arch A. Moore, Jr. of West Virginia. The old narrow bridge has been replaced by a wider, more-modern bridge.