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Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: Bull Eye Bridge Rd. - OU0B8F
Still another Railroad History Cache
Owner: redoak1953
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Altitude: m. ASL.
 Region: United States > West Virginia
Cache type: Traditional
Size: Small
Status: Ready for Search
Date hidden: 2015-03-13
Date created: 2020-03-01
Date published: 2020-03-04
Last modification: 2020-03-16
1x Found
0x Not found
0 notes
watchers 0 watchers
394 visitors
0 x rated
Rated as: n/a
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Description EN

A few hundred yards southeast of GZ is the spot where a bridge once crossed the B&O and went right into downtown Martinsburg.  The old road was the extension of John Street to East Burke St. or Flagg’s Crossing Road.  The name Bull Eye Bridge came from the fact that trains would stop eastbound out of Martinsburg to get helpers attached for the trip up 9 mile grade.  While stopped, the trains were easy prey for hobos to board for a free trip east.  The railroad police were known to stand on the bridge to watch for the ‘bo’s.  A favored name for the rail police was “the bulls”, hence, Bull Eye Bridge.  The bridge met an untimely end as well as a somewhat “shady” one.  The railroad and the city were engaged in a heated dispute as to who should maintain the bridge.  Having their fill of the uproar, on one dark and not busy night, the railroad took a crane and flat car to the site, dismantled the bridge and left with it.  Next morning, a farmer went to cross to go into town and !SURPRISE! No bridge!  Thus ended the squabble as to who would maintain the thing.  Over the years, the earthen approaches and stone retaining walls were removed and today, the right of way is the only thing even remotely visible there.

 

The cache, 4th in the series, is a departure from the usual type in the other Baltimore & Ohio Railroad caches I have placed already.  The cache is not anywhere near the tracks but along the old roadway leading to the bridge site.  There is no need to be even remotely near railroad tracks for this one.  Enjoy the photo with this cache listing as there is no sign of anything in the photo in the area except tracks and even less of those.  There is minimal parking along the road and one should approach the parking from Martinsburg heading east to be on the correct side of the road and be sure to be very careful in getting in and out of the spot. The correct parking is at the bottom of the hill, not part way down. This is a heavily traveled and windy road.

UPDATE: As of 1/29/2018 quite a bit of tree cutting and clearing has been done along the old right of way in connection with the preservation of an old "colored" cemetery. The cache is now a more common/easier type cache. Had to preserve the history lesson here somehow! Also, of interest just west of the cache is the old Green Hill Cemetery, designed by David Hunter Strother-pen name Porte Crayon-famous Civil War sketcher and artist. This cemetery is worth a visit as it is fashioned after a cemetery he had seen while in France. Quite a museum of history and statuary. At the very edge, in the woods, there is the remains of an old black cemetery.

 

 

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Bulleye Bridge
Log entries: Found 1x Not found 0x Note 0x All entries