Chris Wage Photography 

Cumberland River, Nashville, TN. January 25, 2013.

CSX Cumberland Swing Bridge, Nashville, TN. January 28, 2013.

In 1864, at the height of General Hood’s assault on Nashville during the Civil War, the original railroad bridge across the Cumberland (pictured here) served as a strategic point of entry, and was burned by Confederate soldiers. Only the stone piles and piers remained, and the current camelback-truss swing superstructure replaced the old wooden bridge in 1916. The bridge’s center truss can swing 90 degrees to allow taller ships to pass. The bridge is still in functional and operation today, as seen here.

The bridge has since survived flood and catastrophe — in September 1906, the L&N No. 102, loaded with passengers, plowed full speed ahead towards the bridge, unaware that the bridge was open and impassible. The train stopped, but not before the locomotive, a tender, a mail car and a baggage car plunged into the Cumberland, killing two crewmen.

UPDATE: I am wondering if the concrete reinforcement on the foremost pier (pictured above) was added after the accident in 1906. The train was headed north, so it would have plunged off the bridge right at that pier, so I wonder if it was damaged on the way down.

Cumberland Riverfront, Nashville. TN. July 27, 2012.

I’ve never verified it myself, but I’ve been told that when the Cumberland is low (as it is above), if take a kayak under the current concrete structure, you can still see the remnants of the old docks.

The Shelby Street Bridge, originally called the Sparkman Street Bridge, was built in 1909. Behind it stands the much newer Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge (also known as the “Gateway” bridge).

Bridges!

A spring stormfront rolls in over the cumberland river and the gateway bridge. May, 2008.

An oldie but a goodie from last year. One of the things I miss the most about living downtown was the ease of night photography around the city.

Taken a few years ago in december.

Taken last December, sometime before Christmas.