. Historic Virginia homes and churches . NATIRAL BRIDGE mines the length of the bridge, and its height from thewater. Its breadth in the middle is about 60 feet, butmore at the ends, and the thickness of the mass at thesunmiit of the arch, about 40 feet. A part of this thicknessis constituted by a coat of earth, which gives growth tomany large trees. The residue, with the hill on both sides. I BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS 463 is one solid rock of limestone. The arch approaches thesemi-elliptical form; but the larger axis of the ellipses,which would be the chord of the arch, is many times longerthan th
. Historic Virginia homes and churches . NATIRAL BRIDGE mines the length of the bridge, and its height from thewater. Its breadth in the middle is about 60 feet, butmore at the ends, and the thickness of the mass at thesunmiit of the arch, about 40 feet. A part of this thicknessis constituted by a coat of earth, which gives growth tomany large trees. The residue, with the hill on both sides. I BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS 463 is one solid rock of limestone. The arch approaches thesemi-elliptical form; but the larger axis of the ellipses,which would be the chord of the arch, is many times longerthan the transverse. Though the sides of the bridge areprovided in some parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yetfew men have resolution to walk to them, and look overinto the abyss. You involuntarily fall on your hands andfeet, creep to the parapet, and look over it. I^ooking downfrom this height about a minute, gave me a violent head-. ON THE ROAD TO NATURAL BRIDGE (1889). ache. If the view from the top be jiainful and intolerable,that from below is delightful in the extreme. It is im-possible for the emotions arising from the sublime to be feltbeyond what they are here: on the sight of so beautiful anarch, so elevated, so light, and springing as it were up toheaven, the rapture of the spectator is really indescribable!The fissure continuing narrow, deep and straight for a con-siderable distance above and below the bridge, opens ashort but very pleasing view of the North JNIountain onone side, and Blue Ridge on the other, at the distance eachof them of about five miles. This bridge is in the countyof Rockbridge, to which it has given name, and affords apublic and commodious passage over a valley, which cannotbe crossed elsewhere for a considerable distance. Thestream passing under it is called Cedar Creek. 464 VIRGINIA HOMES AND CHURCHES Tlie ]Marquis de Chastellux in his Travels in North-America in the years 1780-8
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