CHOATE BRIDGE
Behold this bridge of lime and stone
The like before was never known
For beauty and magnificence
Considering the small expense
How it excells what was expected
Upon the day it was projected
When faithful men are put in trust
They’ll let all the money rust
And some advance for public good
Is by this fabric understood
And after this it will be wrote
In honor of brave Colonel Choate
It was his wisdom built the same
And added luster to his name
That filled this County with renown
And did with honor Ipswich crown
Choate Bridge spanning the Ipswich River is said to be the oldest stone arch bridge in the United States. The arches are low of no architectural design. The stories are rough and practically field stone.
The County voted to build the bridge, and as John Choate was County Treasurer and as he had to pay the bills and he lived in Ipswich, he was appointed to oversee the work.
Naturally he carried out his own ideas. The plan of building it of stone was his own and many people did not believe it could be built of stone and predicted it would collapse and didn’t think he knew enough to build it.
John Choate had never seen a stone arch bridge but he built it and when the supports were taken down there was a great celebration. There were some skeptics and it was said that the Colonel was mounted on a fast horse ready to fly to Canada but the bridge still stands.
The above poem was composed by a Mr. Clark,
a blind man from Rowley. Lines
composed by Mr. Clark, a blind man of Rowley, in 1764, and recited by him on the
bridge in the presence of Col. Choate and several other persons, before the
guard walls were done, although the bridge was so far done as to be passable.
Among the spectators was Nathaniel Dutch –then a lad—who heard the
verses spoken and repeated them from memory, December 1831; previous to this
time it was not known that they were ever penned or printed.