Corbin holds dedication, blessing for historic bridge during weekend events
By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor
About 50 people came out to the Engineer Street walking bridge Saturday for the dedication and blessing of a new source of community pride.
“It’s like a little touch of Gatlinburg here in Corbin,” said Kimberly Anderson, who lives on Engineer Street near the bridge. “I grew up on this street and we drove across this bridge when it was a rickety bridge.”
The railroad bridge is more than a century old, and was actually moved from a different location further up Lynn Camp Creek at the turn of the 20th century. Residents said the bridge was closed to street traffic about 15-20 years ago. In recent years, it was boarded up with wire fencing and had become an eyesore.
It could have simply been torn down.
Instead, city and community leaders secured local funding to restore the bridge. After years of being turned down for grants for the project, the city commission budgeted about $20,000 in city funds for the work, which included paint, new railings, benches, wooden planks and flower planters.
“This is something that the whole town has supported,” said Mayor Willard McBurney.
Brock McVay donated lighting for the bridge, the Master Gardeners have committed to care for the flowers, Antiques & Accents donated planters and the Ossoli Club of Corbin also contributed money toward the purchase of flowers. McBurney also thanked Kenneth Pennington for his work in designing the bridge, and the public works department, which did much of the labor using area inmates.
Since the bridge’s reopening to the public, Anderson said men have come to fish off the side of it, new mothers have come across with their strollers, and couples have taken prom and engagement photos.
Anderson said her daughter even hopes to get married on the scenic bridge but, she added with a laugh, they haven’t decided if it will be on the Knox or Whitley county side.
“We’ve taken a resource and just made it amazing for the neighborhood,” Anderson said. “It looks like a close-nit community now.”
Mayor Willard McBurney, center, officially opens the Engineer Street walking bridge on Saturday with city commissioners Dennis Lynch, Joe Shelton, Bruce Farris, Phill Gregory, Main Street Manager Sharae Myers, and representatives with the Chamber of Commerce, the Master Gardeners and others who helped make the project happen.Photo by Samantha Swindler/(Click for larger image)
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