HUNTSVILLE | A ceremony has been scheduled for Friday, July 24, at 10 a.m., to celebrate Scott County’s latest addition to the National Register of Historic Places — the Oneida & Western Railroad Bridge over the Big South Fork River.
Scott County learned in December 2025 that the O&W Bridge was being added to the national register, following an effort that was initiated by Scott County Commission. First District Commissioner David Jeffers chaired a committee charged with exploring opportunities to preserve the historic value of the old railroad bridge after it was learned in 2023 that the TN Dept. of Transportation might be on the verge of condemning the bridge due to its declining inspection scores.
Originally built in the 1800s for use in another state, then moved by rail to Scott County during construction of the O&W Railroad in 1915, it is the oldest bridge still in use in Scott County today, and one of the last surviving whipple truss bridges in the nation.
Working with the Industrial Development Board of Scott County and the Scott County Chamber of Commerce, which secured more than $75,000 in grant funding, the Scott County Road Department rehabilitated the bridge in 2017 after the National Park Service warned that it might soon be forced to close the bridge due to safety concerns. That project included the replacement of all wooden components of the bridge and the safety fencing.
More recently, TDOT assigned the bridge a sub-par score during an inspection of the steel and concrete components in 2023, which sparked the effort to have the bridge placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Barring improvements that are able to be made to the bridge’s core structure — if any — it will eventually be condemned by TDOT and closed to vehicular traffic, though there is no set timeline on when that might occur. Once that happens, Scott County has committed to preserving the bridge for pedestrian and equestrian use, similar to the historic Burnt Mill Bridge on the southern end of the national park before it was destroyed by massive flooding in 2023. In the meantime, the National Historic Register designation could theoretically be used to secure grant funding for improvements to the bridge.
O&W Bridge is used by hikers as part of the John Muir Trail, connecting Leatherwood Ford to Honey Creek. It is also used by horseback riders who access the trails from the Cumberland Valley section of the Big South Fork. Vehicular traffic still uses the bridge to access a popular swimming hole on North White Oak Creek, near O&W Road’s terminus at the Scott-Fentress county line.
The Big South Fork’s master plan called for closing the bridge to vehicular traffic years ago. However, then-Scott County Executive Dwight Murphy and the County Commission led a successful fight to preserve ownership of O&W Road, including the bridge, to the county line, which is at the North White Oak Creek ford. Ultimately, the National Park Service conceded ownership of the road right-of-way to Scott County.
Currently, the Scott County Road Department is working to make improvements to the road following the replacement of a TDOT-condemned bridge over Pine Creek near the Toomey Road intersection. According to Road Superintendent Kelvin King, his department is working with Rogers Group to make the improvements, and the road will be improved all the way to its terminus at North White Oak Creek.
O&W Bridge is the sixth structure in Scott County that is on the National Register of Historic Places, joining Barton Chapel in Robbins, the old Scott County Jail in Huntsville, the Louis E. Bryant home at Bear Creek, the Black Creek Fire Lookout Tower near Robbins, and the old Huntsville Bank. The old low-water bridge at Leatherwood Ford was determined in 1981 to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places but never has been, and is now in a serious state of disrepair.
