Bartonsville, VT -
The Bartonsville Covered Bridge was destroyed during severe flooding after Tropical Storm Irene.
But Saturday was the official opening of the new one. Governor Peter Shumlin and Congressman Peter Welch were there to attend the opening along with a crowd of more than a hundred community members.
But they all still remember what happened to the old bridge that had stood since 1870.
"Nature took over and took our bridge away," Sue Hammond said.
It was the Bartonsville Covered Bridge Hammond crossed as a kid and the bridge she shot video of as it washed down river after Irene.
And Sue was there as the new Bartonsville Covered Bride officially opened Saturday and connected a community divided.
"You're coming home for us and there was nothing better than entering and coming into the Bartonsville bridge to come home and now we can do that again," Hammond said.
And much of that is thanks to Sue's amazing video.
"This video that showed this bridge being swept away became just emblematic of the force of that storm," Congressman Welch said addressing the crowd that came to watch the bridge opening.
"That video and the symbol of watching a covered bridge over 200 years old be wiped out by a storm was a video was a video that was seen around the world and people said 'Hey, we gotta help Vermont.'," Governor Shumlin said.
Sue's viral video helped the Town of Rockingham raise $60,000 to build the new bridge but she didn't stop there to make sure it was a covered one.
"We went and marched in mass down to the select board meeting and put our foot down and they agreed," Hammond said.
It took FEMA funding and insurance money the town had taken out on the bridge to make the rest of the $2.6 project happen. And just like after Irene Sue's been there for all of it.
"It's been a beautiful thing to watch it built but not as good as the feeling to having my feet on this solid wood surface. To know that this bridge will be here for the next 140 years or more is an amazing feeling."
