In my last post, Oregon: Covered Bridges in Cottage Grove, Part 1, I talked about the Currin, Dorena, and Stewart bridges. This post covers the Mosby Creek, Centennial, and Chambers Railroad bridges.
Mosby Creek Bridge
While the Mosby Creek bridge is not that far from the Stewart bridge, it is actually still in use by drivers. I would have loved to walk through and captured the interior, but it isn’t safe to do so. This bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Lane County, and also is famous for being used as the orange covered bridge at the beginning of the movie Stand by Me.
The best access to viewing this bridge is from the Row River National Recreation Trail park and ride at Mosby Creek.
A lot of cyclists use this route, and a bike bridge is also present in this park and ride area.
Now it’s time to head back towards historic downtown Cottage Grove.
Centennial Bridge
On Main Street in Cottage Grove, the Centennial Bridge was built in 1987 from the salvaged timber from two historic Lane County covered bridges, the Meadow Bridge and the Brumbaugh Bridge, which had been dismantled in 1979. The new bridge was built where Cottage Grove’s historic Main Street Bridge had stood until the 50s.
The interior is pretty open.
I was pretty lucky that I only had to outwait one or two people at this bridge. Both saw my camera and tripod and got out of camera range. 🙂
The last bridge on my tour was the Chambers Railroad Bridge.
Chambers Railroad Bridge
The Chambers Railroad Covered Bridge was part of the rail system used to haul logs from the Lorane Valley to the J.H. Chambers Mill in Cottage Grove. The bridge was built to endure the massive weight of the lumber trains and built tall to accommodate their stacked loads.
The interior of this historically accurate rebuilt bridge is an homage to the original purpose of the bridge. There is iron artwork honoring the steam engines that used to come over the bridge.
This bridge is used as a pedestrian and bicycle footbridge, and has interpretive signage at both ends. One end has artwork of the engine front.
If you look close at the bridge floor, note the resemblance to train tracks and railroad ties.
All in all, this is a driving tour that takes 1-2 hours. If you start in historic downtown Cottage Grove, the loop takes you back to I-5 northbound without going back to downtown.
