The Dingman's Ferry Bridge

Last week, I had the occasion to cross the Dingman’s Bridge on my way to visit friends. As my very 90’s minivan rattled across the wooden planks, I looked out of the window and up the river and wondered what this experience might have been like at the turn of the last century. My curiosity and the need to return to some books led me to the local library to find out. It seems that the Dingman’s Bridge is one of 25 bridges which span the Delaware River from Montague to Cape May. Dingman’s Bridge, however, is the only one that is not operated by the government or by a bi-state commission. It is privately owned and has been for over 200 years. In the 1730’s a pioneer settler by the name of Andrew Dingman built a flatboat that he pushed back and forth across the Delaware with a pole. The area that he had chosen to settle was on the Pennsylvania side of the River and was known as Dingman’s Choice. His stone house stood only a few feet away from the present tollbooth. In 1834, a charter to build a toll bridge was introduced. That bridge was the first of several to connect Layton with Dingman’s Choice. The original bridge charter mandated that churchgoers, school children and funeral processions passed toll free in both directions. Legend has it that there was a man dressed as a minister who regularly drove a hearse across the bridge- toll free, of course. One keen employee noticed that there were never any mourners but he didn’t have the nerve to ask to look in the coffin. It is thought that in those days of Prohibition, it is likely that the dearly beloved was not a corpse at all but a jug (or 20) of moonshine. Tolls for paying customers varied. A man on foot would pay 2 cents while a single horse and rider paid 12 1/2 cents. A horse drawn carriage was 50 cents. By 1977, the toll for a passenger car was 35 cents each way. Today, the tollbooth attendants stand out in rain or shine to collect 75 cents for a car in both directions.
	The original wooden bridge was washed out before the end of its first decade and a new covered bridge with stone supports was built to take its place. It was built a little higher this time. That bridge was lost to a winter storm in 1865. It was not until the turn of the century that the present bridge was built. For the 35 years in between, cable drawn ferries were back in service as the only passage in this part of the Delaware.
Around 1900, the Horseheads Bridge Company of Elmira , N.Y. acquired the charter. They bought an abandoned railroad bridge and carted it in pieces to site for re-assembly. The bridge has three iron sections, each one is over 200 feet across with a total length of 700 feet. The supports were raised even higher this time to stay above flood level. In 1955 however, erosion caused the bridge to be closed for a 60-day repair. Since it’s opening the Bridge has never received any government funding and repairs are costly. It is mostly the wooden planks, which are laid over the metal structure, which need to be replaced. Repairs today occur over a period of about a week usually scheduled for late summer. As tourism and land development in the Poconos rises, the Dingman’s Bridge gets busier and busier. There is now a regular stream of commuter traffic twice a day as PA residents cross into Sussex County and beyond to get to work. Commuters can buy discounted toll coupons, by the way. Is E-Z pass next?
	The Bridge is still owned and run by shareholders who meet annually to discuss needed changes and bridge related issues. The Dingman’s Ferry Bridge and it’s quaint little tollhouse are a flash back in time and each time we cross, I relate the story from the back of the Nestle’s Chocolate Morsels bag to my kids. They are convinced that it was in that little house that the TollHouse Cookie was born.
"Never let the truth stand in the way of good story" – that’s what my grandmother always said.