Caboose
photo by Wes Schultz
Depot at Bridgeport
photo by Wes Schultz
Rail yard
photo by Wes Schultz
Gazebo
photo by Wes Schultz
Trail of Tears marker
photo by Wes Schultz
Railroad building
photo by Wes Schultz
City Hall
photo by Wes Schultz
Downtown Bridgeport
photo by Wes Schultz
Headed for the bridge
photo by Wes Schultz
New and the old bridges
photo by Wes Schultz
Railroad bridge to the island
photo by Wes Schultz
Old drawbridge
photo by Wes Schultz
Start of the walking bridge
photo by Wes Schultz
Big house on the hill
photo by Wes Schultz
Stately Bridgeport home
photo by Wes Schultz
Bridgeport mansion
photo by Wes Schultz
When a railroad was built from Nashville to Chattanooga in the late 1840s the site selected for crossing the wide Tennessee River was at the little settlement of Jonesville, Ala.
An island that was an ancient habitation for the Native Americans was nearby, and it allowed the railroad builders to be able to gap over two narrow channels.
With the coming of the railroad and the dramatic drawbridge crossing, the name was changed to Bridgeport in 1854.
Bridgeport was a strategic point during the Civil War because of its location along the river and by the railroad. There were several major and minor skirmishes at Bridgeport. It was used by the Union Army toward the close of the war as a major shipyard.
The USS Chattanooga, which was used as a part of the "Cracker Line" to break the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, was built at Bridgeport.
The original Bridgeport Depot was destroyed in July of 1863 by Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg.
The current Mission-style depot was built in 1917. It is used by the Bridgeport Area Historical Association as a museum of local history. It features a large display of local Civil War artifacts as well as railroad memorabilia.
When a new railroad bridge was put into place in 1998, the old bridge was converted to a walking bridge that goes over to the island.
Besides the old Nashville and Chattanooga line, the Sequatchie Valley Railroad was built from Bridgeport north to Pikeville.
Trains from both lines still rumble through Bridgeport, which still has only a few thousand inhabitants.