A Journey Begins with a Single Bridge

Helen Macdonald in her wonderful book H is for Hawk describes her father’s quirky and quixotic quest to photograph every bridge over the Thames River. Something about that effort struck my fancy, and I thought “Why not do that!” Or, more accurately, why not do something comparable with the Genesee River, the waterway that runs north through Rochester and defines the geography and history of this region.

Of course in initiating this project I have no idea what I’m getting into, for I’m ignorant of even the most basic facts, like how many bridges span the Genesee River. A few bridges immediately come to mind, such as the four or five spans in downtown Rochester that I’ve driven or walked over hundreds of times, and the footbridge with the French name that crosses near High Falls and the Genesee Brewery. I know there’s a bridge over the Genesee River on the New York Thruway, but when you’re driving at 70 MPH it’s easy to be heedless of such a structure if it’s not too large. I imagine that bridges cross the river more frequently as the river gets narrower the farther south you go, but to be honest I’m not even sure where the Genesee River starts. In Pennsylvania, perhaps? I guess it’s finding out things like this that make the project appealing to me.

I’m sometimes better at coming up with brainstorms like this than completing them, so I wouldn’t wager that I will actually visit every bridge over the Genesee River. But other members of the family seemed interested and enthusiastic enough that I thought it would be worth it to give it a try. With winter settling in and the general dreariness of life in the time of COVID, this might make for an interesting diversion.

As for a plan, I decided to start north and work south with the goal of crossing each bridge (on foot if possible) and taking pictures from multiple angles while learning a little about the area and the bridge. I know little about engineering and bridge construction, but I’ll try and keep an eye out for interesting details–though I have doubts about my ability to capture them on camera (luckily I should get some help from other members of the family).

With this vague plan in place, two days after Thanksgiving my wife Ursula and I drove from our home in Webster to visit our first bridge, the Patrick O’Rorke Bridge near the mouth of the Genesee River. The adventure had begun!