Water Under the Bridge? Preservationists hope historic structure can find new life at Moratock Park

The Seven Island bridge was partially disassembled by N.C. Department of Transportation workers and set up on blocks in 2005.

DANBURY (By Lisa O'Donnell, Winston-Salem Journal) - Like an old Chevy that has seen better days, the Seven Island bridge rests on blocks in a clearing in the woods not far from where it spanned the Dan River for 100 years.

Weeds shoot through what was once the floor of the bridge. Rust chips away at the posts and bracings that supported the weight of countless wagons hauling tobacco, horse-drawn buggies, trucks and school buses.

When workers with the N.C. Department of Transportation disassembled parts of the steel truss bridge and unloaded it in a field in early 2005, officials with the town of Danbury and preservationists hoped that it would find new life as a pedestrian bridge over the Dan at Moratock Park, a few miles down the road.