Among commands relating to duties of the heart and mind are the following: To be- 

 lieve that the world has a Creator who created it from nothing, and that there is none 

 other like Him, and to devote intelligent thought to the wonders of his creation, so that 

 they may be to us a sign concerning Him. — Rabbi Bachzi. "Guide to the Heart." nth to 

 utJi Century. (Contributed by an appreciative AA member.) 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



EDUCATION AND RECREATION 



VOL 



AUGUST 1910 



No. 4 





m OUTDOOR WORLD 









The Natural Bridge of Virginia 



By R. HADEN PENN, Buchanan, Virginia 



HE Natural Bridge of Vir- 

 ginia is one of the great- 

 est natural curiosities of 

 the western world. It is 

 an immense bridge of lime- 

 stone connecting two small 

 mountains. Beneath the 

 great arch runs a considerable 

 stream called Cedar Creek. The height 

 of the bridge is two hundred and fifteen 

 feet, the width one hundred feet, and 

 it spans a gorge ninety feet in breadth. 

 It is fifty-five feet higher than Niagara 

 Falls. The walls of the bridge are as 

 if they had been cut with a sculptor's 

 chisel and there is no sign of displace- 

 ment in the work which nature has 

 been doing for centuries. 



This bridge was a wonder to the red 

 men who inhabited this region in great 



numbers before the coming of the 

 hardy and home hunting pioneer who 

 began to push his way in this terri- 

 tory about the year of 1730, 



The Scotch Irish pioneer who first 

 invaded this section attached little 

 value to the bridge as property, as he 

 was preeminently a home seeker, and 

 it was not until Thomas Jefferson vis- 

 ited this region that the idea occurred 

 to any one to purchase the bridge. 



Mr. Jefferson obtained a grant from 

 George the Third, King of England, 

 for the sum of twenty shillings. This 

 grant comprised one hundred and fifty- 

 seven acres. In 1775 Mr. Jefferson 

 built near the bridge a large log cabin, 

 containing two rooms, and placed in 

 one end of this cabin a negro man and 

 his wife — the man singularly enough 



Copyright 1910 by The Agassiz Association. Arcadia: Sound Beach. Conn. 



