Save the Skinners Falls Bridge!

There will be a public display meeting, featuring AECOM and PennDot (the 2 entities that will decide the fate of the Skinners Falls Bridge), at the Narrowsburg Union (7 Erie Ave, Narrowsburg, NY) on Thursday April 25, from 5 PM to 7 PM. PennDOT is (again) accepting comments on this project. Comments should be emailed to skinnersfallsbridge@aecom.com by May 26.

Anyone who has traveled toward the Upper Delaware National and Scenic Recreation Area and Pennsylvania on NY Route 17B, now rebranded as “The Woodstock Way,” has surely witnessed the slow sad collapse of the small barn-like structure. And many have probably imagined a new life for it, what it might have been if it had been preserved at its prominent place at the corner of “The Way” and Pucky Huddle Road.

Its demise tells the familiar tale of how nature and neglect can lay waste to history and the touchstones of personal memories. The building, reportedly once a toll house, has been passed by countless people—including the tens of thousands who made a pilgrimage to Yasgur’s Farm for what would be perhaps the most life-changing concert ever presented.

Our old houses and other landmarks are the infrastructure of our history. They are the vessels of the past we never knew and thus hold the substance of what we are in the present and what we might be in the future.

It is too late for this fragment from our local history. It is, however, not too late for our communities on both sides of the Delaware to make a bold commitment to historic preservation in our region. And that can begin with the strident salvation of the Skinners Falls Bridge.

The Pond Eddy Bridge downstream was lost after a valiant battle by locals. The equally if not more significant Skinners Falls Bridge is now trapped in the web of interstate bureaucracy, short-sighted planning and possibly pork barrel politics conducted by people with no direct connection to the region. There’s an active proposal to replace the bridge with a contemporary structure not appropriate to the location and the needs of the community.

Local media has consistently been on point with keeping the public informed about developments with the bridge and providing a forum for public discussion and comments. The concerns about the preservation of a valuable landmark are regularly on the agenda of Damascus Township in Wayne County, PA. Damascus Citizens for Sustainability has been laying the legal groundwork for its protection. The state of the bridge and its very possible destruction is the talk of locals whose lives have been needlessly and negatively impacted by its long-term closure, including those who own established local businesses such as the Milanville General Store, Lou’s Tubes and Lander’s Campground.

Hundreds of residents have made public formal comments to the authorities in so-far-futile acts of advocacy for the future of a treasured local landmark and a vital access point that literally bridges two states.

Lives are still being lived and homes are still standing thanks to volunteer emergency volunteer fire and rescue that easily traversed the bridge through the years.

It is a structure of great historical importance to our river valley. It is vital to the well-being of the communities on both sides of the river that it has sturdily spanned since the bridge was opened in 1902.

Its one-lane passage unites us rather than divides us. We courteously take our turns crossing it, and in that simple act we unite in common decency and consciousness of each other. This bridge belongs to our community and its future should be determined by our community. Saving this bridge will preserve our past. It will also empower our present.

Cynthia Nash lives in Milanville, PA.