While recently reading an article in the Jan. 3 edition of The Shepherdstown Chronicle about the idea of building a West Virginia Almost Heaven Swing as some sort of tourist attraction in James Rumsey Monument and Park, I couldn’t help but wonder what ever happened to the idea of building a pedestrian bridge from Princess Street to Mill Street — on the town’s right of way, Rocky Street?

When I was president of Friends of the Shepherdstown Riverfront in the early 2000s, there was enthusiasm for connecting Riverside Park, which is right beside the historic Mecklenburg Tobacco Warehouse, to the James Rumsey Monument and Park.

Local neighbors and land owners were for the bridge. No one was against the bridge being built.

The bridge would not only connect the two parks, it would also offer people the opportunity to see three landmarks of local, historic import that are not easily visible: the riverside of the Potomac River and backside of the Thomas Shepherd Grist Mill, with its great water wheel; the two stone pillars where the Thomas Shepherd Grist Mill’s water wheel was originally located; and the small mill structure that is still standing. Those three historic structures are all that remain from the early mill days of Shepherdstown.

We have valuable historic resources that might mean more to local citizens and tourists then some sort of scenic swing! James Rumsey Monument and Park is beautiful as it is, and local citizens and tourist do, already, appreciate the marvelous view without having something built to enhance the experience. Leave the park alone.

Diana Suttenfield, of Shepherdstown