Victorian Footbridge
(a component of “Owlkill Commons”)
Cambridge is home to the oldest covered footbridge in the northeast. Our historic covered Victorian footbridge was constructed in 1890 and set over the Owlkill to connect Main Street to the Rice Seed Company, which was then the second largest seed company in America.
Come take a stroll across our magnificent footbridge!
Rest on its benches and enjoy its peaceful surroundings.
In the early 1800s, “Cambridge” was two distinct villages – an east end and a west end, divided by a swamp around the Owlkill. The swamp was filled in so that the Rice Seed Company could be built there. That brought east and west close together, and the placement of our Victorian footbridge across the Owlkill literally and figuratively joined us into a single, unified community. For over 130 years, it has been a unique, prominent, defining streetscape feature of the Village’s Main Street. The Owlkill and our footbridge are where Cambridge comes together.
Footbridge Revitalization (and Award)
The wooden bridge and the surrounding stone walls that lined the creek deteriorated over the years. In 2017, the Community Partnership and several other community members joined in a collaborative effort to preserve our landmark footbridge. VARAK Park donated the bridge to the Village, and the Community Partnership secured a $15K grant through the NYS Main Street Program. But much of the credit for the project’s success goes to the many community members who contributed, both financially and with the generous donations of time and critical skills. We secured permits, designed and engineered solutions, lifted and moved the bridge, replaced abutments, reinforced the bridge’s structural members, replaced the shingled roofing, repaired the board sheathing, and replaced missing wood elements – all done to match the original wood species and shapes to the extent possible. In 2021 we re-set the bridge in its original location and celebrated as a community.
- In 2022 our footbridge initiative was recognized with The Community Pillar Award, the Washington County Historic Preservation award for “responsible stewardship of, and a commitment to, the historic integrity of a building, landscape, or streetscape.” See: https://poststar.com/news/local/historic-preservation-awards-presented-in-washington-county/article_7d8abf0c-f0ca-11ec-b8d3-efb0ae3d9d41.html
Next Steps
VARAK is donating to the Community Partnership approximately 1.15 acres of open space, including a section of the Owlkill over which the Village-owned Victorian footbridge sits. This enables us to now focus on addressing the deterioration of the retaining walls near the historic footbridge. We are now developing a concept plan. Here’s just one possibility being considered:
