While slowing down a bit getting ready to turn off GA15 to hunt the Tignall Cemetery Cache I spotted a sign on the right hand side of the road that said “Covered Bridge.” So we made a quick turn and headed to the bridge. We both wondered out loud if we might have been here before, because way back in our early years in South Carolina we did chase down some north Georgia covered bridges. When we got to the bridge it didn’t look familiar, so we had either never been here before or had and forgot it.
Elder’s Mill Covered Bridge is a few miles south of Watkinsville, GA in Oconee County. It is a single span town truss bridge that spans Rose Creek. It is 99 feet long and was built in 1897.
The bridge wasn’t very wide and as a precautionary measure the state had erected an arch made of steel I-beams a hundred feet or so off either end. They serve the purpose as those metal basket things at the airline check in counters for your carry on’s, if it fits inside you can take it on board. If your car can fit through the arch it can cross the bridge. Me, being still a little unsure of the cubic volume of space consumed by the Purple Whale, was a little worried passing through the I-beams. We drove across and I made a K-turn to go back over the bridge while Donna jumped out with camera in hand to capture the moment.