Bellamy Bridge named to National Register of Historic Places

Florida's Most Haunted Bridge Receives National Recognition!

by Rachael Conrad

Historical and haunted Bellamy Bridge is now on
the National Register of Historic Places.

Bellamy Bridge, which some say is one of Florida's most haunted sites, is now a site of national distinction.

The National Park Service has listed the historic steel-frame structure on the National Register of Historic Places. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is the park service's initiative to "coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archaeological resources."

The bridge was built in 1914 using funds provided by the Jackson County Board of County Commissioners. It was prefabricated by the Converse Steel and Bridge Company and brought to the construction site on the Chipola River north of Marianna using ox carts. Crews assembled the pieces and completed the span in just over six weeks!

The bridge takes its name from earlier wooden bridges that crossed the Chipola River at the same site. These bridges have all been said to be haunted by the restless spirit of a young woman named Elizabeth Jane Croom Bellamy. Please click here to read more about the Ghost of Bellamy Bridge.

A closer look at the surviving steel-frame structure.

The recognition results in large part from the work of Andrew J. Waber of the Florida Division of Historical Resources. He has been engaged in an ambitious project to identify significant historical resources in rural counties of Northwest Florida. His work also led to the Sneads Log Cabin and Longwood House in Greenwood being added to the National Register in recent years.

Historian and author Dale Cox, who assisted by providing documentation and other information, said he was thrilled by today's announcement. "This has been a goal for a very, very long time," he said. "A group of us first started working to preserve Bellamy Bridge all the way back in the 1980s. There have been ups and downs, but this is a definite up!"

Bellamy Bridge is located off County Road 162 (Jacob Road) just west of the Chipola River. A trail leads from a gravel parking area there down to the bridge. Hurricane Michael did extensive damage to the trail. Cleanup efforts have been underway, and the path is once again open to the public, although more work remains to be done.

Bellamy Bridge Heritage Trail as it appears today. Hurricane
Michael did extensive damage to the nature trail, but hard
work has it once again open to the public. More work is ahead.

Cox was a key figure in the effort to build the trail across Northwest Florida Water Management District lands and reopen the bridge to the public but gave higher credit to former Jackson County Parks director and current Florida State Parks assistant director Chuck Hatcher and former Jackson County Tourism director Pam Fuqua.

He also credited many others for their work in preserving Bellamy Bridge, among them current Jackson County Public Works director Rett Daniels, the Board of County Commissioners, the Northwest Florida Water Management District, the volunteers of the Friends of Bellamy Bridge, former tourism employee Whitney Clark, Brig. Gen. James W. Hart (ret.), Tracy and Susan Todd, Emerald Coast Paranormal Concepts, David Melvin Engineering, and current county tourism director Christy Andreasen.

Enjoy this free mini-documentary from Two Egg TV to learn more about the Bellamy Bridge ghost story and hear a great song about the haunting: