bridge of flowers

After yesterday's visit with butterflies I headed to Shelburne Falls for a first visit to The Bridge of Flowers. I'm lucky that a friend told me about this wonderful place recently; that was the first I'd heard of it.

The Bridge of Flowers lives on an old trolley bridge crossing the Deerfield River in Shelburne Falls. Two years after the street railway company went bankrupt, a local woman proposed turning the bridge into a garden. It was opened in 1929 and was repaired in 1983 after concerns about deterioration of the bridge structure. The bridge serves as a home to a beautiful garden and it also carries an 8-inch water line carrying up to half a million gallons of water a day. I suspect that the presence of the water line added to the push for restoration. I'm glad the work was done; it's a beautiful sight!

The entry to the bridge warns against 4-legged visitors.

The bridge was full of tulips and other early spring flowers. Tulips at home are fully open and nearing the end of their bloom; those on the bridge were just opening.

When I finished communing with the flowers I walked along the river, heading towards a dam on the Deerfield River.

More photos can be seen in the gallery a bridge, a river, flowers!