BUILDING BRIDGES:  IT TOOK A VILLAGE
The March issue of the Andover Beacon has a lovely photo of Proctor students standing on a not-quite-finished hiker’s bridge on the SRK (Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway) trail #9, which leads to the summit of Ragged Mt. from Proctor Academy.  This photo seems to be a random “filler,” placed with totally unrelated issues amidst the Town Report. There was no underlying story about the bridge elsewhere in this March issue. So, this note is to provide some background to this project, and to say thank you to the many volunteers who collaborated on this project. The Proctor Woodlands Classroom boys and faculty were indeed wonderful participants in this bridge building, though late-comers to the process.  Many others were also instrumental in the success of this project.

In 2007 the Proctor Woodlands Classroom, under the direction of Mr. Dave Pilla, built the Nancy Schoeller bridge on SRK trail #9, in the same location as the newly built bridge.  This 2007 project relied on Mr. Pilla’s expertise, his gathering and milling the necessary hemlock from the Proctor woodlands, and his direction of Proctor Woodlands Classroom students and volunteers from the SRK in the construction of this first hiker’s bridge.  Ragged Mt. Fish and Game Club collaborated with Proctor and the SRK and enabled materials to be brought to the site through the Fish and Game Club. By 2016 this Nancy Schoeller bridge had become hazardous: it was aslant and sinking into the bog, and numerous cross pieces had rotted out.  The SRK Board approached Proctor to ask for assistance about assisting in replacing the bridge. Proctor also wanted the bridge replaced.

By 2016 Mr. Gerry Gold, former Trail Master for the SRK, had secured some grant funding for materials to rebuild this bridge through the Quabbin 2 Cardigan trail program.  The grant funding was turned over to Mr. Dave Pilla at Proctor, and the Ragged Mt. Fish and Game Club again approved access for bridge and trail work through their property, as needed.  During the summer of 2017 numerous SRK board members, Proctor families, and Ragged Mt. Fish and Game Club volunteers spent time demolishing the old Nancy Schoeller bridge, collecting and disposing of rusted hardware and nails and old rotted wood, ”rock harvesting” from the woods around the bridge site, preparing rock pillars for new footings for the bridge.  By fall 2017 Mr. Pilla had some building materials delivered to the bridge site, with the plan for construction the following year. Bad weather and other events prevented the Proctor Woodlands Classroom from participating in this bridge project until November 2018. Due to the untimely death of Mr. Pilla in the summer of 2018, Mat Rowley, a Proctor student parent and member at Ragged Mt. Fish and Game Club, stepped up, designed the bridge and oversaw its construction. Donated use of a Kubota tractor from another Ragged Mt. Fish and game Club member, Kevin Hinds (also a parent of Proctor students), enabled tools and other materials to be delivered to the bridge site in the fall of 2018.  Grant and memorial gift funds from the SRK covered the costs of all the materials used in this bridge. The bridge was finished in November 2018. It is a beautiful, solid bridge which will last for many years.

On a solo snowshoe trek this January I went to see the bridge. No humans had broken out the trail.  I was following a buck track up the SRK trail #9, heading towards the bridge. The buck track went straight across the bridge and on up towards Balancing Rock.  Even the deer appreciate this bridge!

Special thanks goes to the following people:  Mr. Mat Rowley for the design and oversight of construction and for coordination of final phases of construction with the Proctor Woodlands Classroom in November 2018; Anne Rowley and their son, Rowan Rowley (now a Proctor senior), for volunteer labor throughout this project; Kevin Hinds (another parent of two Proctor students) for donating the use of his Kubota many times; David Powers, Caretaker at Ragged Mt. Fish and Game Club (and also a parent of Proctor students), for communicating with Mr. Dave Pilla and SRK volunteers when access through the Club was needed for delivery of materials and access for trail work groups;  the Ragged Mt. Fish and Game Club Board for collaborating with the SRK and Proctor on maintenance of SRK trail #9; Proctor Academy, for allowing much of SRK trail #9 to pass through their woodlands, many SRK members who provided hours of labor– Anne Hewitt, Sooze Hodgson, Gerry Gold, Tim Eliassen, Nick Baer, Dave Gardner, Charlie Baughman, Nathan Richer, and others; the family of Scott Hollinger for their generous memorial gift to the SRK which provided the final funding for the bridge construction materials, and the Proctor Woodlands Classroom students and faculty, Greg Allen and Matt Mackenzie, who came on board in the fall of 2018 to help with construction.   We all did this in memory of Mr. Dave Pilla, who was felt to be present throughout this collaborative project.