140 



Till*. Gr IDE TO NATURE 



named Patrick Henry. The instruc- 

 tions to the negro were to keep one of 

 the rooms for visitors to the bridge, 

 and i" charge nothing for viewing the 

 great natural curiosity. Since then it 

 has been held by eleven owners. The 

 region is one of the most beautiful 

 places in the Blue Ridge mountains, 

 hi [88i Colonel II. C. Parsons organ- 



ors from all sections of the United 

 States visil it. and many foreigners 

 also sojourn there to view one of the 

 greatesl natural curiosities in the 

 world. General George Washington 

 paid several visits to the locality and 

 climbed up the immense arch and 

 carved his name highest under the 

 bridge. For man)- years no other per- 



SEEN FROM A DISTANCE, THE BRIDGE IS LIKE "A BIG HOLE IN A WALL OF STONE." 

 Tele-photograph from the top of a distant hill across a valley. 



ized a company which purchased the 

 bridge and a large area of surrounding 

 territory, and to this company and Col- 

 onel Parsons is due the credit of beau- 

 tifying the place and making improve- 

 ments worthy of this great work of 

 nature. After the completion of the 

 Shenandoah Valley and the Chesa- 

 peake and Ohio railroads, both of 

 which pass within two miles of the 

 bridge, the public has had every facility 

 of modern travel to aid in reaching the 

 place, and annuallv thousands of visit- 



son attempted the feat; but in 1818 

 James H. Piper, a student of Washing- 

 ton College, Lexington, Virginia, 

 climbed far above George Washing- 

 ton's position and made his egress on 

 a ledge which he succeeded in reach- 

 ing by a leap that saved his life. His 

 distance up the sides of the gorge was 

 one hundred and seventy feet. Sev- 

 eral persons have committed suicide 

 by jumping from the bridge. To go to 

 the edge and look over is frightful. 

 There seems to be an influence that 



