Don't go here!
I learned about this bridge by watching a Sunday morning show (it's now on youtube) highlighting this bridge and the store close by (store review: https://www.yelp.com/biz/trevett-country-store-trevett?hrid=oku17hRS1AbII9VF_hMjTA&utm_campaign=www_review_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)). Since we were planning a trip to Maine in our future, we moved it up due to the bridge being upgraded by 2020.
This is an 86 year old hand-cranked bridge. Some locals refer to it as the Pony Truss. It is one of the few remaining hand-cranked bridges in the United States. However, it will be ungraded later on this year. I thought it was sad and I wanted to share this important piece of history with my son. After all, not everything used to be automatic or just happened with the touch of a button.
We learned while staying in Boothbay that the bridge doesn't get very much boat traffic and we'd be lucky to see it...or the operator, Terry F. (full name in articles about the bridge and videos), open the bridge that is. We felt this was an important piece of dying history, so we decided to go anyway...have lunch and wait for it. If nothing else, maybe we could meet her to express how sad we were this change is coming. We've read a few articles about the bridge and Terry F. after we saw the show...and we were excited to at least see this piece of history.
Our adventure didn't go as planned that's for sure...what a waste of time! We thought we'd to go to this store to have a lunch, watch the bridge if we could and/or just enjoy the scenery. Or have a meal and maybe shake hands with Terry F. if possible (if we couldn't see the bridge opening) since she seemed to love this bridge and the history of it so much and it's going away. She seemed so nice on the show/video after all and the articles about her are so nice. I got that wrong! What a joke! I made a colossal mistake by going to view this bridge (and have a meal at this store) with my family. Terry F. seemed genuine on the show, so if we couldn't see the bridge open, then maybe we could meet her...we tried both. No boats, so we drove to the other side and waited, kept our distance from her hut since you can't go past a certain point and hoped she'd come out to get her attention. As luck would have it she came out and we spoke to her at a distance...again, since you can't go beyond a certain point. She just yelled at us...she was nasty mean. We didn't even go where we weren't supposed to, we followed the rules. We tried to tell her why we were there...she wouldn't listen. Being horrid gave her pleasure it seemed. She is quite the brusque person...totally different and the exact opposite from the interview on the show. Absolutely nothing like the articles describe either, nor was the experience. The area in general is nothing to write home about, nor send a postcard! It was a wow moment...her rudeness is indescribable. My son got a lesson alright, but not exactly the one I thought...ha!
End Note: I did find it sad that the bridge is changing. But after our experience (between the bridge and store), I am happy to see the bridge changing and it's for the absolute best. Perhaps one day soon they can figure out how to make it fully mechanical where a human isn't needed at all. After all, there isn't much boat traffic and seems to be a colossal waste of money to have a person just sitting there most of the time. At least that is all she was doing when we were there...just sitting. Going to the area is a complete waste of time, energy and money and I would not recommend it to anyone. Not to mention this is a perfect example to not always believe what you read, see on TV or the internet. read more