Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Matt Miller
There were six photos taken in Moraine by the Wright Brothers in 1898 at the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles is a cliff where the Wright Brothers observed birds soaring in the updrafts and they determined their wing warp theory for the airplane based upon the birds wing movement during flight. One of the 1898 photos was titled “Bridge Behind the Pinnacles” (Photo #1). After many hikes through the Pinnacles and surrounding woods, the bridge was located in 2015 by Moraine resident Matt Miller (Photo #2). The bridge still stands intact today. There is some deterioration on the southwest side but overall the bridge is solid and supports hikers and mountain bikers who cross the bridge using the trail.
If you look real close at the photo, is it an optical illusion or is there a person standing on the bridge? At first, I thought it could be one of the Wright Brothers but upon closer exam it could be a woman wearing a black skirt, white blouse, black bow and dark hair or hat. Could this be Katherine Wright their sister?
A loose brick from the north side of the bridge (Photo #3) shows it was manufactured ay Peebles Brick in Portsmouth, Ohio probably between 1905 and 1918. The bridge though is much older than that.
The bridge is located .1 mile from the Pinnacle Road Bike Trail, one mile north of the Pinnacles and just east of the closed Pinnacle Road Landfill. During heavy rain the stream will create a five foot waterfall about 50 yards downstream (Photo#4). Volunteers and I are developing the 1.1 mile “Wright Brothers Pinnacles Hiking Trail” with access trailheads at both the Pinnacle Road Bike Trail and at the Main Street Bike Trail. We hope to have the trail open in 2022.
