The mystery of the house in the sky

By Jennifer Crutchfield

Can you imagine climbing up and down a ladder with 120 steps—five times a week? Or spending the whole day in a 576-square-foot, tin-sided house—170 feet above a surging river and atop a much-used bridge?

That once was daily life for the man in charge of the Tenbridge, the railroad bridge just downstream from the Chickamauga Dam. Originally built in 1888, portions of it burned in 1914, and it was completely rebuilt in 1920. The bridge was staffed full-time with a watchman, or bridge tender, until the early 1970s. The bridge tender’s office was the “house in the sky” you’ve probably gazed up at while driving along Access Road.

Now imagine the many people who must have made that daily vertical commute during the 82 years the house was manned. Some of those bridge tenders stood watch as the Chickamauga Dam was being built in 1936.

They saw the Tennessee Valley change as the power of TVA began to manage what the authority’s website refers to as “forests and rivers as integrated systems, rather than isolated resources.” Prior to TVA’s changes in the landscape, the valley was suffering from the effects of erosion and poor land management. Conservation efforts must have dramatically changed the view from that tall, tall house.

Tending the Tenbridge

Chattanooga children have probably created thousands of chilling and fantastic stories about that house during the 118 years that one has been there. Did you? Do your children?

After some investigating, I found the granddaughter of a man who spent much of his career atop that busy bridge.

Linda Roberts, a teacher at the Northside Learning Center, has spent a career teaching and tending to classrooms of eager young minds. Her grandfather was Andler Wesley Rhea, but she knew him as “Patchee.” When I wondered aloud at what a courageous man he must have been to climb that ladder every day, she laughed. He was the father of nine children, she said; it’s likely that climbing that ladder wasn’t the hardest thing he did in an average day!

Favorite of the “railfans”

The house in the sky, a Chattanooga landmark, guards one of the two bridges of interest in Tennessee to a large community of railroad enthusiasts. The Tenbridge (or Tennessee River Railroad Bridge) is 1,800 feet long and is a truss bridge with a vertical lift. That means that the center portion of the bridge can be raised to allow for boats with tall masts or large barges to pass under it. That’s only happened a handful of times since the 1980s, but the massive reels and motors that control the lift are housed in that unusual building.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, lists this historic Chattanooga landmark among its directory of unique railroad sites. The Tenbridge has long fascinated railway enthusiasts, or “railfans.” Among them was Dr. James W. Livingood, an iconic figure in the study of Chattanooga history. He believed that all roads cross in Chattanooga, and he attributed this to the importance of rivers and railroads for transportation of people and goods early in the city’s history. His eyes sparkled when he talked about Chattanooga and the rail system, and that same sparkle is evident in the photographs on websites dedicated to rail enthusiasts and their historic hobby.

In a time when few people travel the rail lines of America, there exists a vibrant culture of people like Dr. Livingood, who appreciate the wonder of the railways, trains and bridges. For railfans across the country, as for Chattanooga’s children (and former children!), the “house in the sky” has long been a unique and awesome sight.