The Trestle Bridges
Among the early features of the early park were "trestle" bridges over creeks. These were "high" trestles for vehicles built in the manner of railroad trestles. There was one over Deans Branch just upstream of Tunnel Falls and one over Little Crooked Creek at the south entrance to the park. Read about them below.
An aerial image labeled to show location of old trestle bridge (yellow) over Dean's Branch with modern roads (orange). Trails 5 and 6 are in blue.
The Trestle over Dean's Branch
This first image is a section of a 1930s era park map showing the location of the high trestle across Deans Branch. The numbers refer to the trails as numbered at the time. Note that today's Tunnel Falls was called "Dean's Hollow Falls" at the time period of the map.
Note that the bridge crossed Deans Branch just upstream of Tunnel Falls, much closer to the falls than today (compare to the lower labeled image).
The bridge there was called the "high trestle bridge" and photos from the period remain (at the Jefferson County Historical Society).
The footings that held the trestle up still remain in the stream channel and a small retaining wall on the south side could be an artifact of the bridge.
The bridge connected the north side of this side canyon near the present-day Hickory Grove picnic area to the south side between the Tunnel Falls parking lot and the T-junction of Canyon Road and Campground Road.
A carousel of images along Trail 5 up along Deans Branch and then from the top across the creek looking back.
The Trestle over Little Crooked Creek
The bridge at the south entrance, over Little Crooked Creek, is due for several months of maintenance in 2026. It has a history.
In 1948, the current concrete bridge replaced a trestle bridge that was built in 1933. The construction activities closed the south gate for 20 months.
Very little is left of the original trestle bridge as the new bridge crosses at the same point (it seems). This contrasts to the Deans Branch trestle bridge which was replaced further upstream.
The image carousel here shows the current bridge and two vestiges of the old trestle bridge - old footings or worn-with-wear foundation piers.