CASSELMAN RIVER BRIDGE STATE PARK

Day two and Jimmy and I were off to yet another completely empty Maryland state park on a gorgeous Saturday morning in July. WTF? This time it was the postage stamp-size Casselman River Bridge State Park.

The graceful camel-back bridge is a designated Registered Historic Landmark because it “possesses exceptional value in commemorating and illustrating the history of the United States”.

George Washington called its strategic location the “Little Crossings” when he first forded the Casselman River in June of 1755, with British General Edward Braddock, on their ill-fated expedition to capture the French Fort Duquesne in what became the city of Pittsburgh.

The Bridge was originally known as the “Little Youghiogheny”.

In 1813, the U.S. Congress hired a celebrated engineer from Garrett County, David Shriner, to be the superintendent of the “Cumberland Road”, otherwise known as the “National Road”, the 30-foot-wide, crushed-gravel road that ran from Cumberland, Maryland all the way to Ohio, and opened up the Western frontier. Shriner personally designed and oversaw the building of the Casselman Bridge as a key part of what was essentially America’s first interstate transportation project.

The 80-foot span was the largest stone arch in America at the time and was used continuously from 1813 to 1933, when asphalt Highway 40 became the western road for cars and trucks, making the old bridge instantly obsolete.

When it was first built it was also the longest single-span stone bridge in the country. The high arch was designed to facilitate C & O canal boats should they ever run across the Alleghenies. They never did, so the giant arch was actually quite pointless. But it shows that the people of the time tried their best to plan ahead, and it still looks very cool.

The bridge was restored in 1913, and according to one of the many informative interpretive signs, it has “become a world renowned tourist attraction, a delight to photographers, artists and historians, and is often prominent in photographic and art exhibitions”. Well , maybe yes, maybe no.

There isn’t a whole lot to the 4-acre park, just the graceful stone block bridge which the state recently restored again at considerable expense, and an adjacent grassy picnic area that like every state park we have visited this year — my friend Jimmy and I are doing one a week until we have visited them all — was immaculately cared for like a plush golf hole at Augusta National. There are picnic tables and fire pits surrounded by bright flowers and tall trees sloping gently to the lazy Casselman River that resembles a creek more than a river these days.

On the east end of the bridge is the somewhat contrived, but still utterly charming, Penn Alps Spruce Forest Artisan Village, where weavers, potters, sculptors, wood & iron workers, and soap & candle makers ply their handmade crafts in cute little log cabins that are all historic homesteads that have been moved from their original locations throughout Garrett County to this faux “village” in a shady grove of tall spruce trees.

The cornerstone of the whole village is the Yoder House. The Yoders were Swiss immigrants who ruled the roost in the Grantsville area back in the day and their three floor, Tudor-style, wooden and stone house provides a time capsule glimpse into what life was like for a prosperous family living in Western Maryland in the 1800s.

The basement root cellar is one of the coolest architectural features I have ever seen. It was constructed with fitted tan stones of various sizes mortared precisely into place like a jigsaw puzzle onto the outside of a wooden-dome frame which was later removed after the stones had set, making it a structural work of art.

Penn Alps is a kitschy sort of real deal roadside attraction and a uniquely American treasure trove of arts & crafts, sitting right next to an important slice of American history. It’s a magnet for tour buses, seniors, and families with small children; but for some reason, younger folk don’t seem to stop there very much. And while the National Road (Route 40) was swarming with large convoys of bikers — the usual bearded bad boys and the weekend warriors on their tricked out Harleys — they tend to ride from bar-to-bar and blow right by artist traps and cute little parks like Casselman Bridge.

In fact, as far as I can see, ALL of our state parks, unless they offer beaches where you can swim, are pretty much empty most days. But still, the dedicated folks who work at our parks tirelessly weed eat and cut the grass, tidy up the campgrounds, and care for the little critters in the visitor center exhibits, making sure everything looks just right in case the people of Maryland and beyond wake up one summer day and realize that Ocean City isn’t really all it’s cracked up to be and discover that our state parks offer unimaginable wonders galore.

• http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/Pages/western/casselman.aspx

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After checking out the Casselman Bridge and Penn Alps, we headed 17-miles west on I-68 to the sleepy town of Friendsville, Maryland, near the West Virginia line. Friendsville is home to several river companies that offer balls-to-the-wall river trips on the Upper Youghiogheny River (known locally as the Yock) when the dam upriver releases water (three days a week). I’m talking Class IV rapids that scared the crap out of me a few years back, and I used to run the Colorado River in Grand Canyon pretty regularly, so my fear threshold is pretty darn high. If white water is your thing, I would suggest you check out a previous story I wrote in this blog about that fateful river trip.

Jimmy and I weren’t there to run scary rapids. We just wanted to hike and swim. And the Kendall Trail that starts on the south end of town is perfect for both. Take the first right after the bridge and the trailhead is at the end of the street. There is limited parking at the trailhead, so park on the street over by the fire station.

This land is managed by DNR and is technically called the Youghiogheny River Natural Environmental Area (NEA). No one other than the townspeople know it’s there and it gets very little foot and mountain bike traffic. Basically, it’s an old gravel road that parallels the Yock and the whole area is officially designated as a Scenic River Corridor, which means there’s no man made anything. It’s another one of those trips back into the late Jurassic Period that you can find out in Garrett County if you look hard enough and are willing to walk. In this case you should hike about three miles until the trail is bisected by a small stream. That’s a good place to end your outward trek.

And then it’s time to swim. Follow a faint trail toward the river and look for some diving rocks with a metal survey marker sticking out of one of the stones. This is a great place to hang out for a few hours, swimming and sunning on the rocks to the sound of river music.

It’s an easy three miles back to your car and at that point, you are probably going to be pretty hungry and thirsty and you will have earned a tasty meal and a frosty beverage. There are a few okay places to eat right there in Friendsville, like Annie’s Kitchen Country Restaurant and the Jubilee Diner. And Deep Creek Lake (McHenry) is only about twenty minutes away where the Mountain States Brewery serves some kick-ass home brew and specialty pizza.

Now that’s what I’d call a fine day.