The Swinging Bridge

The Swinging Bridge is suspended over the spillway of the Lower Lake dam.  It is the fastest, and most obvious, route for circling the Lower Lake, since one end connects to the famous millhouse. 

In my experience, most girls were less interested in getting to the other side than in testing their courage on the bridge. A sign posted outside the millhouse sternly warned, "Only one person on the bridge at a time".  In spite of the name, it doesn't swing.  It quivers and jiggles as you cross.  The alternate route is several yards downstream across a stationary footbridge that diagonals away from the lake and up to Innisfree Road. 

Photos of the mill and the dam from the early 1940's show the bridge in place (or an earlier version of it).

The Courage Test
Photo:  Ann Marie Niziolek