Epoxy
Bailey Island
Maine, USA
Also known as Harpswell, Casco Bay
The bridge onto Bailey Island works by not resisting the water. Granite slabs stacked crosswise with gaps between them, and no mortar at all.
The tide through Will's Gut, the channel separating Bailey from Orr's Island, runs hard enough that a conventional bridge would either be undermined or would choke the current. Llewelyn Edwards of the Maine State Highway Commission proposed stacking granite the way you would build a log crib: lengthwise, then crosswise, layer on layer, dry laid and held in place by nothing but its own weight. The open pattern lets the tide run straight through.
It went up between 1926 and 1928 using around ten thousand tons of granite quarried at Yarmouth and Pownal. It has stood ever since, through hurricanes, ice, and a 1978 storm that brought seventy five mile an hour winds and thirteen foot tides. It is the only granite cribstone bridge in the world. When it was finally rebuilt in 2011, the replacement stone came from the original quarry.
Details
- Feature
- Coastline
- Build
- Epoxy
- Material
- Solid Walnut
- Colour
- Ocean Blue
- Size
- 10-1/2" x 16"
- Completed
- January 2025
How this one was made
Everything difficult, all at once. The water runs off all four edges, so the entire perimeter is dammed before the pour. The title sits inside the water with only a thin ridge of unengraved wood keeping the white lettering apart from the blue, and each colour has to be dammed and poured on its own so neither creeps across. White is the least forgiving colour we use: any engraving soot left loose in the grain turns it a dirty yellow brown, so the board gets sealed thoroughly before anything goes down. Slow from start to finish.
Waypoints close by
Cobbosseecontee LakeWinthrop, Maine, USA
Beach PondConnecticut, USA
Groton Long PointNew London County, Connecticut, USA
Candlewood LakeDanbury, Connecticut, USAAlso from our workshop
Cascade
From 
Sanctuary
From 
Peak
From 
Silver Fox
From Where this is
43.738507, -69.9948