Herr's Mill Bridge
Herr's Mill Bridge has been bypassed by the highway and is now on private property, part of a reconstructed village open to tourists for an admission fee of $8.00 (in October 1995), which includes a carriage ride through the bridge. The site also includes an old stone mill dating from 1728. It may have included other attractions as well, but we chose not to pay the 8 smackeroos. OK, the bridge is now private property and the proprietor would like to make a few bucks on the asset -- as an economist we certainly understand that! And $8.00 isn't a bad rate for a day trip, but we weren't staying that long and didn't care for a carriage ride, thankew. Three or four dollars for a parking place and a picnic table we would have happily paid. And so we had to turn around in a very narrow circle -- don't try it in your family van! -- and finding a parking place then was tricky.
Also, we would have grudged the admission fee a little less if the proprietor spent a few of those bucks on upkeep of the bridge, which seemed to us down-at-the-heels. And some of the representations made for the bridge seemed to us, well, let us say, subject to misinterpretation. It is said to be the longest bridge and the only two-span bridge in Lancaster County. And that's true, provided one means "entirely in Lancaster County." But Pine Grove Bridge, a typical Lancaster County Bridge, is also a two-span bridge and is longer -- with one foot in Chester County, to be sure. Pine Grove is also a bit off the beaten path. Let's put it this way: if you're doing the tourist's Lancaster county and want to take a half a day for a picnic and a carriage ride and see a bridge in the process, Herr's Mill Bridge is part of your package.
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