Power and Light helps fund Fort Pillow suspension bridge
Thanks to donations from organizations like Ripley Power and Light Company, visitors at Fort Pillow State Historic Park will soon be able to use a new suspension bridge to walk from the park’s welcome center and museum to the reconstructed fort and main area of a Civil War battle site.
Work on the bridge started this spring and should be done in September. The 120-yard bridge will have suspension cables and a walking platform over a large ravine.
The bridge has been out for about 19 years, said Park Manager Robby Tidwell. “The new bridge will help visitors retrace the steps the soldiers took.”
While the bridge is under construction, park visitors will find plenty of activities to keep them busy this summer.
The park features 13 miles of trails, a newly renovated campground and RV park, and a 25-acre lake.
On every Saturday, Sunday and holiday, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, park visitors can go on pontoon tours and guided canoe and kayak floats on the lake. Park rangers give talks about the fort’s history.
Visitors can also tour the museum and reconstructed fort and watch the park video.
Steep bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River made the Fort Pillow area a strategic location during the Civil War. Confederate soldiers built the fort in 1861, but they abandoned it the next year as the Union Navy advanced down the Mississippi River. Fort Pillow was the site of a Civil War battle on April 12, 1864, which the Confederates won.
For more information about the park and its activities, visit the Fort Pillow link at tnstateparks.com or call 731-738-5581.
A new suspension bridge, to be completed this fall, will take visitors across a ravine from the park’s welcome center to the reconstructed fort. Ripley Power and Light donated fund to help pay for the bridge.