Sunday, October 17, 2010

Bad Photography Sunday



This is the Fort Jenkins Bridge over the Susquehanna.  I'm standing on the Pittston side, looking west toward West Pittston.

The weather was strange when I took this photograph.  As you can see, it's cloudy to the west, but clear at my back-- the east.  It's why the bridge is in bright sunshine while the sky above is overcast.

Unlike the Water Street bridge, I couldn't find a lot of information on this bridge.  The paragraph below comes from a west site dedicated to the history of West Pittston.

Jenkins Fort, one of a series of forts built to protect the settlers of the valley, sat at the top of the river bank near the present day Fort Jenkins Bridge. It was primarily occupied by Judge John Jenkins, Captain Stephen Harding and their families. The tragic story of brothers Benjamin and Stuckley Harding who were savagely killed by Indians just days before the Battle of Wyoming holds a special interest to West Pittston residents. The Hardings left Jenkins Fort traveling up-river to tend to their farming chores, were ambushed by their attackers and overpowered. The bodies of Hardings were later brought back to Jenkins Fort and buried in Jenkins graveyard near the fort. The graveyard still exists today as the Jenkins Harding Cemetery located on Wyoming Avenue at Linden Street. Jenkins Fort was eventually captured by Colonel John Butler's invading forces on July 1, 1778 and later burned to the ground ending the brief history of Jenkins Fort.