Resolution on new Bath Creek bridge, ca.
1928
Notes:As more and more people came to visit Bath, particularly St. Thomas Church, local Bath residents and Beaufort County commissioners
used increased tourism as a way to argue for better roads and bridges leading into the town.
Transcription
RESOLVED
THAT WHEREAS, the bridge spanning Bath Creek leading from the Town of Bath westwardly to Washington and thence to other sections
of Beaufort County and the state at large, is in very bad condition; and
WHEREAS, the State Highway Commission is about to improve said bridge as the Board is informed and believes; and
WHEREAS, this Board has been advised that the State Highway Commission is seriously considering the question of repairing
said bridge by the construction of another wooden bridge; and
WHEREAS, a petition signed by a large number of citizens of the Bath community has been filed with the Board asking it to
urge the State Highway Commission to erect a bridge across Bath Creek of the same type and style as the bridge extending over
Back Creek from the Town of bath to Ransomville; and
WHEREAS, this Board is impressed with the wisdom of the statement set forth in said petition:
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that this Board does hereby call the attention of the State Highway Commission to the fact that
Bath itself is the oldest town and is a historic shrine in the State of North Carolina, and among other points of interest,
contains the St. Thomas Episcopal church, the oldest church in North Carolina and that said church and its graveyard constitute
a religious shrine to which yearly pilgrimages are made, and in addition, throughout the year large numbers of visitors visit
said town.
We, therefore, respectfully submit that as ninety-five per cent of the visitors to the Town of Bath would go over the said
bridge, that said bridge should be a structure of the style and degree of durability of which the community would be proud
and which would reflect credit upon the business sagaci[ty] of the Highway Commission. We, therefore, urge that said proposed
bridge be of the style and type as that spanning Back Creek on the east of Bath.
