Pieces of Green Bridge now at site of kids’ camp
Clinton’s historic Green Bridge is now gone, with only some remnants of its concrete piers still to be removed from the Clinch River.
But parts of the structure are about to reappear as pieces of a pavilion near the river that will serve as part of a camp for children.
Dwight Stitt, who created a nonprofit that runs a camp for dads and kids, said the pieces of the former Green Bridge superstructure that will be used to build the pavilion were moved to the site last week by the contractor responsible for building the new bridge and removing the old one.
Stitt said in January that he had secured permission from the contractor, Blalock Construction, to use some of the old Lewallen Bridge to create the pavilion.
The bridge pieces have been stacked in two piles on the property, and Stitt said he is working with an architect who will design the pavilion to incorporate the pieces of the bridge. But the nonprofit still needs to raise the money to build the pavilion, and is planning to hold a fundraising event on the property May 13-15, Stitt said. Details of the fundraiser will be announced later.
Until now, the summer camps have been held on the property of John Gamble, Stitt said. But the nonprofit – which was established in its current form in 2017 -- recently bought two acres “adjoining that property, so we can start holding monthly events there,” he said.
The 30-by-60-foot pavilion will be the center of the camp, and will have picnic tables under it, Stitt said. “We will be using it for our events, and also will make it available for rent for other community events.”
There also will be a commemorative plaque put on the pavilion detailing some of the history of the Green Bridge, he said.
Stitt said that when he began thinking about how to construct a pavilion on the newly acquired property, he thought of the Green Bridge, which was a big part of his life growing up in Clinton. He is a 1992 graduate of Clinton High School.
“I approached Blalock Construction, and they agreed to donate some of the old bridge pieces for the pavilion, and also said they would deliver them to us at no charge,” Stitt said.
“This most likely will be the only use of any of the old bridge pieces that people will see, as the rest will go to salvage,” he said.
“The goal would be to have [the pavilion] up for this year’s camp, Father’s Day weekend in June,” Stitt said.
He posted plans for the pavilion on his Facebook page, where he described the work this way:
“We will build out and pour four solid concrete pillars (with detached slab) for the uprights and overlay them with stone. Spanning each 60 (foot) side will be two 30 (foot) steel girders, cut from below the bridge, and they will be welded/plated together in the center to span the 60 (feet) to make a cantilever-style frame.
“We will then stick-build the roof atop the frame, but on the far end caps of the 30 (foot) sides, we will have a steel fabricator cut both the entrance sections salvaged from the overhead truss work to conform to the same pitch as the roof and weld them in place.
“This will be done in such a way to preserve as much of the original look and color of the bridge. It will be built parallel to its sister bridge crossing the Clinch, so the 30 (foot) ends are very visible to traffic on (Highway) 61. This way, regardless of the direction of travel on 61, everyone will be able to look over and see the old entrance beams of the Green Bridge.”
Until now, the group has held only the single event on the property every year, but now that it has bought the property, it plans to have monthly events through October, beginning with a fund-raiser in May, he said.
Stitt, who now lives in Strawberry Plains, said he grew up “fishing on the Clinch River.”
He grew up on Medaris Street, and has fond memories of fishing the river with his dad, Douglass Stitt, who died in 1998, he said. His mother is Catherine Stitt.
