When you walk on the Oak Park Trail, you will cross over a culvert on two bridges made by Northeast Huntsville friends and neighbors and other residents of Madison County.  The first bridge was made by members of the mountain biking club called SORBA Huntsville; it’s a sturdy beauty.  The second bridge, also sturdy, was built solely with hand tools from start to finish; felling, splitting, hewing, and making and driving pegs.  Jacob Chancery introduced us to the tools and techniques used for at least 200 years to make the bridge.

We knew the wood had to be naturally rot resistant to be sure the bridge lasts a long time, and we wanted harvest the wood locally.  We decided on black locust which grows quickly in areas with lots of sun.  Brandon Perry of the Land Trust of North Alabama marked some trees that could be harvested, and fortunately they were only a few miles from our project site.  We worked two weekends on the bridge. I hope you enjoy this video of our project!