NORTH KINGSVILLE – Dave Coon and Roger Riffe have driven past the spring that sits along the railroad tracks just north of Route 20 on State Route 193.
The duo, along with fellow Edgewood High School alumni Kurt Schwartz and Dan Shank, decided it was time to spruce it up a bit.
The group turned the old carport and trough into a beautiful covered bridge with a bench inside.
“I was going by it and going by it,” Riffe said. “I went to the village and asked them about cutting it off level so it would look nicer. Then, I thought about doing something else and drew some sketches of a covered bridge. I talked to a couple of other guys that go to our Edgewood alumni lunch, and I showed them some sketches. They had ideas, too. We got together and started to build.”
The entire project was planned and funded by the group.
“We were just trying to make it nicer,” Coon said. “I’ve been driving by it off and on for a long time I thought ‘Why not do something about it.’ Roger and I were talking at one of our alumni lunches. Dan Shank has a sawmill in Girard, Pa., and I picked up some old telephone poles, and we cut them into boards and framed it with cedar to make it look authentic.”
“I like to do positive things and I like to be busy,” Coon continued. “There’s no public access to the lake in North Kingsville, and we just wanted it to look nice. We don’t have a covered bridge, and we thought we could do this and make it look like one at least.”
The covered bridge was the second plan the group had for the structure.
“The first plan was to grind it off flush with the concrete and put a car port over it,” Riffe said. “I thought we needed to do something a little nicer. The area is known for covered bridges. The third idea I had was to give it a log cabin look. I’m glad we went with the bridge.”
The spring is nearly a historic landmark as it’s recognizable to anyone who crosses the railroad tracks.
“It’s not really historic, but it’s locally historic,” Coon said. “If you don’t remember where you’ve been, you’re going to lose the way going forward. You don’t want to forget where you came from. The idea was to preserve the past and throw a new twist in there.”
The spring is used by people from far and wide.
“People from Madison and Dorset come every day to get water,” Coon said. “If you hang there, you’ll meet a lot of people. They’re all nice. Some people come to get water for their gardens. Some don’t have well water. Some get it for their pigs. When I was growing up, we used it for aquariums.”
Some of those visitors even contributed to the project.
“So many people still use it,” Riffe said. “It’s nonstop. Some people asked us who was paying for it, and we told them that we were, but we were taking donations. Some people have given money. We kept receipts, but I’m not sure how much it’s cost so far. We wanted to do it. We all grew up here and we all graduated from Edgewood.”
There’s hope members of the community do similar projects in the community.
“It would be nice if it did (catch on),” Coon said. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback.”
North Kingsville Mayor Terry McConnell is grateful for the group’s work to improve the community landmark.
“It’s nice to see a lot of volunteers who want to do something for the village,” McConnell said. “It’s wonderful to have people volunteer. That’s something from the past. We don’t get many volunteers anymore. When residents give their time, effort and money, it’s special. It was all done by volunteers.”
“What they did was really great,” McConnell continued. “They didn’t ask for a dime. They did all themselves.”
The men used recycled cedar poles and fastened the boards to three-and-a-half-inch piping to construct an authentic covered bridge.
“The sandstone trough was provided by Kurt Schwartz,” Coon said. “It’s not quite as big as the old one. He just showed up with a chunk of sandstone and said, ‘Let’s cut a trough.’”
The project was a reminder for the men of who they were when they were younger.
“I couldn’t have done it without Roger, Dan and Kurt,” Coon said. “It was something like wood shop. There were times working together was great and there were times we had to stop, sit down and talk about it. We want it to last.”
Riffe was grateful to have worked with Coon, Shank and Shwartz on the project.
“I have enjoyed it,” Riffe said. “We’re all agreeable and we talk about it. It’s not one of us, it’s all of us. I couldn’t have found better guys to have done this with.”
Riffe may have other projects in mind moving forward.
“That well has been there so long it’s become a landmark like Covered Bridge Pizza, Premix, Dusty & Steve’s and Kray’s Hardware,” Riffe said. “I’m asking if people have old pictures of those places for another project.”
