This photo was taken March 2005 when my brother Perry Wilson took me on a boat ride down the Pea River to the dam. I was so surprised to see the trestle still standing. The train stopped coming to Elba many years ago and the track was taken up.
When I was a little girl in the 1940's, I would visit my Mama and Papa Smith in Elba and accompany my aunts and their friends when they walked on the railroad track and crossed the river on the trestle. Trains did not come to Elba on week-ends so it was safe. I could never get very far and would sit and cry until they would help me back to the bank of the river. I was ok until I looked down and saw the water and then I panicked. I still don't like heights and stay off ladders!
The railroad crossed the river near my Uncle Drayden Smith's store, Smith Bros. and the depot was in front of his store in New Town. The train workers would always have some good roasted peanuts from Sessions where they last stopped and would share them with us. Elba was the end of the line and the train would deliver freight. I remember the big packages the workers would unload onto to the platform of the depot. People would have to come pick them up. Soon after we moved to Elba in the winter of 2003, I wanted to walk behind Smith Bros old store and see if I could find the trestle. The track had been removed but I thought I could see an outline of the trestle through all the brush. I was so happy to find that it was still there when we traveled down the river that cold March day.
The scenery along the way to the dam is so nice. At one point there is a beautiful sandy bank and we saw some houses along the way, with steps going down to the water. I wonder who lives in these houses? Maybe they are week-end retreats.
It's so much fun to return to a place in your past and find it is still there after about 60 years. The Pea River is an asset for the city of Elba, waiting to be used as a tourist attraction someday. I know people would love to take boat rides and watch the wildlife along the way.
