As part of the Town of Bovina’s Bicentennial Celebration, Brooke Alderson enlisted a group of ten local artists to create paintings of Bovina Landmarks. The artists were invited to paint their own interpretations of photographs of different Bovina buildings that are no longer in existence or have been altered. The resulting ten paintings were mounted on easels by Brooke and Scott Hill and were displayed throughout the hamlet during the Celebration at the site where the original structure stood (or still stands).
This is the last of the series of entries highlighting the buildings and the paintings. The paintings are on display at the Bovina Public Library, where you can order prints of any that catch your fancy for $80, all proceeds going to the library. And stay tuned for an auction of the original works being planned for this fall.
Scott’s Bridge, painted by Gary Mayer
At the lower end of the Bovina Center hamlet once stood a picturesque stone bridge spanning the Little Delaware known as Scott’s Bridge. There had been a bridge on the spot since at least 1875, when the first stone arch bridge was built there – and likely there was some other form of a bridge before then. The town advertised for a contractor in the fall of 1874 to build the bridge by the Scott farm. Contractors were given the option of building “either an Iron, Stone or Wooden Bridge.” W.R. Seacord and A.B. Phyfe built the first stone bridge on the site, but within three years it was apparent that the foundation had weakened and that repairs were needed. Supports were placed under the bridge to support the keystone, but while the workmen were away one day, the arch collapsed. The replacement stone arch bridge was built by William Cooke and George Currie. That bridge lasted almost 80 years.
The bridge was part of what became known as the S curve at the lower end of town. During the era of horse drawn vehicles, the need to turn left to cross the bridge and right as soon as the crossing was accomplished was not a big deal, though it still took some skill. The change from horse drawn vehicles to trucks and automobiles made the bridge much more challenging to maneuver - it was easy to scrape your car on the sides of the bridge. It became the site of several accidents, though none with any fatalities, as far as can be determined. In 1924, four lumbermen working for the Johnston mill had an accident when “frost on the windshield of their car kept them from seeing the turn of the bridge. Striking one side they slide to the other and then landed in the overturned car at the roadside.”
Modern vehicles were proving to be too much for the bridge. Discussions began in the 1930s about replacing the bridge. The Stamford Mirror-Recorder in 1934 reported on “Bad Bridge At Bovina Center.” The article noted that the bridge “is a battle-scarred old landmark and there is plenty of evidence to show that not all motorists have crossed it without touching some place.” The newspaper went on to report on an accident about three years earlier: “This man had come over the hill into Bovina Center…and he had a rude awakening. He knocked a huge chunk out of the 12-inch concrete guard rail and sustained a broken leg.” His passenger also was injured. The paper noted that litigation followed. “The many accidents there have brought about surveys for a new structure, but that is as far as the action has gone.”
Discussions and debate continued into the 1940s and 1950s. The bridge was closed in the winter of 1951 for repairs, causing “great inconvenience as the detour by Lee Hollow is very much out of the way to Bovina.” Action on replacing the bridge likely was spurred by a flash flood in August 1953. Several trees were caught in the bridge.
A few months after the flood, in March 1954, the Bovina Town Board passed a resolution requesting that a new bridge be built:
"Resolved: Whereas the bridge at Bovina Center has been deemed unsafe for travel,
"Whereas, two school buses, one carrying 52 children and the other 25 children, are forced to unload the children and said children must walk across said bridge on their way to school in the morning and on their return at night,
"Whereas, this is the main outlet of said Town – all milk being hauled in trucks from community and all grain and supplies hauled in comes over this bridge,
"Whereas, the Post Office at Bovina Center is reached by a mail car using this bridge,
"Whereas, the bridge in use was built in the 1870's and very little repair work has been done since then,
"Whereas, signs stating, “Proceed at your own risk” has been posted at the approaches to the bridge,
"We, the undersigned members of the Town Board of the Town of Bovina, do recommend that a new bridge be built as soon as possible."
Construction started on the replacement bridge in September 1954. It was built a bit downstream from the old bridge, allowing the old one to continue in use during construction.
The replacement for Scott’s bridge was opened to traffic in early July 1955. Two other bridges were built in Bovina at the same time. The bridge that crosses Brush’s Brook, next to what was the Thomas Garage was replaced and opened in the late fall of 1954. A third bridge was built to replace one that crossed Coulter Brook on Coulter Brook road. This spate of bridge building was spurred, in part, by the August 1953 flash flood that damaged these bridges.
Much to the disappointment of many, including Stella McPherson, who lived across the street on what had been the Scott farm, the old stone arch bridge was demolished on July 26, 1955. For a bridge said to be weak, it was pretty stubborn about coming down and took all day to demolish. Sadly, given that I was three-months old at the time, I do not remember the old stone bridge, though there are many in Bovina who still do. We are lucky that we have several photographs of Scott’s Bridge so we all can remember it.
Gary Mayer is from Detroit, Michigan. He studied art at Wayne State University in Detroit and became influenced by a group of artists called the Cass Corridor School, named after the area where they lived and worked. Gary moved to NYC in 1982. During that time, he had numerous solo and group shows. In 2004, after spending over 20 years in NYC and Brooklyn, Gary moved to the Catskills. In the last decade he has shown his work widely in the area and helped form the GreenKill art space in Kingston. He is currently a member of the Longyear Gallery in Margaretville, NY. “My work has always fluctuated between abstraction and figuration. I find that one feeds and sharpens the other and they both share an intensity and painterliness.”
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