Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Casselman River Bridge and State park

Last weekend, hubby and I took a short trip to western Maryland. The Casselman River Bridge and state park was one of our stops. The Casselman bridge is a national historic landmark built in 1813.
It was at one time the largest single span stone arch in the United States and one of the first major bridge on the national road  US Route 40 which was known as a East-West United States highway. Now we have the faster Rt 70 and the old Rt 40 is a slow and more scenic route.






A view of the river towards Rt 68



We saw lots of these spotted fish in the Cassleman River, anyone know what kind they are?







A view of the park from the bridge







We finished our day at the nearby Penn Alps Restaurant and tried some of the wonderful their Mennonite food. I had a their Asian Chicken Salad with the White House dressing. Wow, was it ever delicious. So good I had to bring home a bottle of the dressing. After dinner we checked out the Artisan village and the House of Yoder. My favorite part was visiting Gary Yoder and his amazing bird carvings. Gary Yoder's bird carvings are in collections around the world and I was happy to meet him and watch him do some carving. If you happen to be in the area I would say this place is well worth a stop.

I am link up with Outdoor Wednesday thanks to Susan the host and  2 sweetnsaxy's Watery Wednesday.

Thanks to both of these gals for these fun memes and thanks for stopping by to see my post.

29 comments:

  1. Very pleasant-looking park. I like the stone arch bridge. The fish look interesting. Sorry, I don't know what they are called.

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  2. Lovely, quaint and dinner sounds wonderful! Definitely on my "hope to visit" list.

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  3. The stone arch is lovely, and thank you for the history! That river looks cleaner than the one Annie was wading in this morning, which reminds me, I bet she still has water weeds in her beard. (Annie is a dog.)

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  4. Looks like a beautiful spot to spend the day. Love the stone arch bridge.

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  5. Thankfully, you set this to a Pop Up Window. Now I can comment and would like to visit more often as you have many interesting photographs of your natural surrounding.

    The fish looks like a specie of Eel. I tried looking at it closely and seems to be the counterpart of our flatheads too.

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  6. I like bridges of any kind and I especially liked the stone arch bridge. Beautiful scenery - thanks!




    ~Jean

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  7. What an interesting post. I love that bridge that looks like it could have been built by the Romans but of course they were never in the US.

    I also like that you mention the Yoder name. I've just finished reading a book about the Pennsylvania Dutch with names like Yoder and Hostettler, they were actually Swiss, not Dutch. Because they spoke "Deutsch' (German) it was assumed they were "Dutch".

    I would love to visit Pennsylvania.

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  8. This looks and sounds like an absolutely wonderful day trip, Eileen! Thanks for sharing it with us. Very relaxing.

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  9. What a wonderful place to spend the day:)

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  10. Hope you had a great day, it is beautiful park. So lovely.


    My Bangkok Through My Eyes

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  11. Such a nice arch, and I am amazed how the top of the arch is the thinners. I was discussing in a group, including this arch.

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  12. What a beautiful old bridge and a beautiful park.

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  13. What a wonderful trip ! The views are great. Lovely captures.

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  14. Hi, Eileen!

    Good spotting of the fish.Looks to me, they are brown trout. And beautiful arch bridge too. Great captures.

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  15. That looks like a lovely "blue highway". If one is not is a hurry they're usually much nicer than the interstate. Those fish should have the anglers heading out that way.

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  16. Bella questa tua natura ....
    La prima foto mi piace molto :-)
    Buona giornata.

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  17. Eileen: I agree with Eden they are Brown Trout. All those spots make them a beautiful fish and a lot of people like to fry them up.

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  18. Beautiful shots of that part of Maryland! Back in the 70's I drove route 40 many times as my work took me to a place called Etam, WV. Occasionally stopped for lunch at Penn Alps. Nice to know the food is still good.

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  19. What a beautiful day trip. I just love the history that abounds in the Eastern part of the United States. I just absolutely love the stone bridge.
    I would say the fish are trout. Now which type, because there are several, I don't know.
    Looking forward to your next day trip!

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  20. What a fantastic photographer you are! Thanks for your visit to my blog and .. yes... looking forward to Thanksgiving in Mexico!
    Have a great week.
    Karen
    Ladybug Creek

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  21. Beautiful bridge and brown trout. They're usually such elusive fish. You must be a stealthy photographer!

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  22. National Road passes close to where I live. We both have been seeing Mennonites and posting about them.

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  23. Eileen, I was going to guess Speckled Trout but I'm no authority on fish!

    Lovely nature outing - pretty stone bridge compared to the iron monstrosities which came later. We have similar bridges near my childhood home in Devon, England - especially on beautiful Dartmoor where they cross the picturesque River Dart.

    Thanks so much for your comments - I'm so glad you are enjoying my African safari photos. Such an awesome trip - saw things I never expected to view in my life!! Everyone should go on safari at least once - it's definitely a life-altering experience!

    Have an enjoyable week.
    Mary - A Breath of Fresh Air

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  24. Eileen, these are lovely shots. I especially like the photo of the bridge and the one of the reflection of clouds in the river. Thanks for sharing and for stopping by my blog the other day.
    A fellow Sagittarius. :-)

    Su-sieee! Mac
    This and That. Here and There. Now, Sometimes Then.

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  25. What a nice place to explore! Happy Weekend!

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  26. They look like french "truites" (trouts)but difficult to be sure...and the old stone bridge is quite lovely, it has surely a lot to tell!..

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  27. Such a wonderful park to enjoy your trip! Beautiful photos, and those fishes in the water are so cute.

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  28. The bridge was built in 1813 not 1913, and the fish are Brown Trout. A nice place for a day trip.
    Thanks.

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Hello, Thanks for stopping by my blog. I appreciate all your visits.

BTW, I will not publish anonymous comments, unless I recognize the name. Sorry!

Have a great day, Eileen

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