Happy 2018! (And 2017 in Review)

As 2017 has come to and end and the new year begins, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in the Concord Covered Bridge Historic District! For those of you who have become members, and to those of you who have donated generously in 2017, we say THANK YOU! Your donation has enabled us to work towards the preservation of the district in various ways that would not have been possible without your support.

Looking back on 2017, we have had a very busy year! Here are just a few of the things we’ve accomplished this year:

In January we launched a new web site for the district. This site is a repository for all things related to our district — old photographs, histories of the woolen mill, covered bridge, antebellum structures, paintings of the bridge, and historical anecdotes from the Battle of Ruff’s Mill. If you have not seen the web site, drop everything and go there now: http://concordcoveredbridge.org. Please sign up for the newsletter on the site so you will never miss any news about the district.

We also created a facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/concordcoveredbridge and an instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/concordcoveredbridge.

All of this makes keeping up with what is going on in the district so much easier for the community.

Leading up to the bridge closure in August, we worked with the Cobb County DOT to ensure that the Concord Covered Bridge was repaired and restored in a historically appropriate way, helping to save its current appearance for another generation.

In the fall, we officially adopted the mile of Concord Road that runs through Heritage Park and the Historic District. We organized a clean-up day, walking the roads and trails in the district, keeping our park clean. We removed over 40 bags of trash from the area!

We also developed relationships with the National Society for the Protection of Covered Bridges and obtained their help in getting a fire retardant sealant approved and applied to the bridge to help protect against the possibility of loss by fire. If you are interested in Covered Bridges, you should consider joining this National Society. The quarterly magazine publication, full of historic bridge photos from around the country, is well worth the cost of membership alone.

At the December 12th Board of Commissioner’s meeting, we presented the Commissioners with a framed print of the Concord Covered Bridge as a “thank you” for funding the rehabilitation of this Historic Feature. We hope that the Commissioners will hang it in their offices to keep the bridge remembered in a positive way.

When the Concord Bridge re-opened on December 15th, we presented a second print of the Covered Bridge to the Cobb Department of Transportation in recognition of an excellent bridge rebuild. The Cobb DOT along with their contractor, Suncoast, worked hard to make this project a success.

We have always been structured as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, but this year we took the final step of filing for and obtaining recognition of exemption status from the IRS. We will be better about sending out donation receipts to simplify your tax preparations. We are so thankful you took the time to donate to this organization — it is the least we can do to ensure you get the most benefit tax-wise.

December also brought record-setting snow (or close) for our area of Cobb County – around 10 inches. This made for some wonderful photos in and around the Historic District. If you have some good photos of the park areas in the snow and would like to share them with us, email them to me at philipivester@concordcoveredbridge.org.