The Abandoned Railroad Stone Bridge Abutments at Liggett Road, Guilford, Indiana

Heading west out of Guilford, Indiana on Bonnell Road you’ll travel about 2 miles when the road begins to curve to the right. However, if you pay attention and look straight you’ll see several large concrete bin blocks, also known as barriers. What’s behind these barriers is a cool piece of history hiding in the brush.

What you see behind the barriers are the remains of an old railroad line that continued east into Guilford, Indiana. Going west it crossed the West Fork of Tanners Creek at this location. The trestle is long gone but the two stone bridge abutments on either side of the creek are still standing. The abutments were dry stacked meaning there was no mortar used. These abutments will still be standing hundreds if not thousands of years from now if not disturbed. The line continued west where it again crossed the West fork of Tanners Creek using a trestle at this location but not before running over this small stone culvert which is one of my all time favorite historic stone structures.

Another piece of interesting history at this location is Liggett Road which starts at Kaiser Drive. It originally came all the way down the hill and forded the creek just 50 yards downstream from these bridge abutments. It then jogged back and used the former railroad berm as a road up to Bonnell Road. However, as you can see, this portion of Liggett Road is closed now and hasn’t appeared on a road map since the early 1990s.

GPS Location: 39º09’49.7″N 84º55’26.8″W