Talcott W.Va. (Hinton News) – The Summers County Commission is embarking on a new walking bridge project at the John Henry Historical Park. Funding is from a grant received from Governor Justice. The bridge will go over Hungard’s Creek following the old railroad path and will be for pedestrians only, no vehicular traffic. E.L. Robinson Engineering will perform the engineering design for the bridge as well as update the John Henry Historical Park master plan, which was developed in 2009. Part of the services from the firm will include identifying the cost of the bridge and helping to find grant money for the construction.
The progress at John Henry Historical Park is also in great part due to the community of volunteers working at the site, for tasks like running underground power and water. Park caretaker and volunteer, Mike Cales, also recently obtained a $25,000 grant from National Coal Heritage for the water installation.
The County Commission will also be working with Harvest Host, a collaborative RV hosting group, to provide a site at JHHP for RVs to park and visit the area. Commissioner Ted Kula explained, “this is a way for us to dip our toe into providing RV access at the park, but with no cost obligation to the county.”
If you are interested in some of the history of John Henry, be sure to check out the History channel’s episode of Man Vs History (season 1, episode 2) hosted by West Virginia’s own Bil Lepp. Then visit the park to see if you can identify where the show “recreated” the legendary battle of man against machine.
