Frederick, MD

This is a large and graphics intensive entry. Apologies to those viewing with a slow modem dial-up, but I just couldn’t face doing all the extra coding that thumbnails entail.

Two weeks ago The Socialist and I visited Frederick, Maryland for the weekend. Yes, that Frederick, the one that they caught the snipers just outside of. The Socialist and I actually stopped at the rest stop those sorry pieces of excrement were captured at. None of this is pertinent, except that it casts a small pallor over what are otherwise wonderful weekend memories. Enough said on that matter.

The reason I wanted to go to Frederick was the “Community Bridge”, which I had seen many years ago in a partial stage of completetion. Even then I was completely taken with the project, and the finished product is fully deserving of awe and respect. I’m only going to show pictures and give my own impressions; if you’d like further information on the bridge check out The Community Bridge Project.

The symbols used in the bridge were all submitted by people of the Frederick community and the world community to represent what community means to them. In that sense, the bridge represents the work of hundreds of people. William Cochran and ten assistants spent a total of five years working on the bridge (one assistant spent six months on the ivy leaves alone). The bridge is rich with imagery; to glance at it only casually would mean to miss most of what the bridge has to offer.

Keep in mind that this is a concrete bridge. There is no stonework in the bridge. Every stone you see, every carving, the ivy, the moss, the cement between the stones and even some of the cracks are painted in. There were some carvings I had to touch to prove this to myself. Watching others who were visiting the bridge when I was, I could see I was not the only one who needed the evidence of my fingertips to prove the two dimensional aspects of the “carvings”. Cochran’s signature is nearly hidden at the base of the fountain mural.

The day we visited was rather dreary, but the rain managed to hold off during most of our visit. Because the lighting was diffuse and indirect, it actually allowed me to get some pretty good shots I might otherwise have missed. The bridge spans a viaduct for water control that passes through that part of town, and the water was calm enough to allow me to get some good reflection shots of the bridge.

I was fascinated by the Grecian statue which greeted pedestrians at one side of the bridge. From another angle, there was a “carving” of Buddah, and the juxtaposition of Ancient Greece and the Orient was very effective. I don’t know if it was planned that way or not, but it came across as two meditative, calming images from two very disparate lands. It was jarring and soothing at the same time, if that makes any sense.



Note the ivy by the statue; it isn’t real.

I became caught up in taking pictures of the painted carvings. I particularly loved the chameleon, and the spiral reminded me very much of a similar carving I saw on a rock on the Isle of Man that was proported to be one of the oldest carvings on that island full of antiquities. I’m not going to bother giving my opinion of each and every one of the pictures I took (which represent only a very small sampling of all the “carvings” on the bridge). It’s enough to say that I liked them all enough to single them out for photographs among the hundreds of others.

I nearly missed this six foot sunflower “carving”; the Socialist was the one who pointed it out to me. I had to smile when I saw that a mallard duck had taken shelter behind one of the bridge pillars on the other side of the water. No one on that side of the bridge even seemed to notice he was there.



My smile turned to a full-blown laugh (at myself) when I realized I’d been taken in and the duck was simply another painting.

They say this fountain is so realistic that birds have actually tried to land on it. All I can say is “that’s gotta hurt”. There’s a frog hanging onto the wall by the fountain and a mouse peering out of the ivy at the foot of the fountain; if you look closely you can just make both out.

Finally, my favorite mural on the bridge – the Archangel. Seen straight on, the mural is smeared and distorted. Seen from a very oblique angle, though, the angel seems to reach right out of the bridge. Note that regardless of which side of the bridge you view the angel from, she’s always looking towards you.

Finally, a few final shots that I’ve gotten too lazy to write anything about. Well, maybe I’ll challenge you to tell the real ivy from the fake in the ivy shot.