Old Stone Bridge, Goodlettsville, TN

If you're ever wondering where one of the oldest documented highway bridges might still be standing in Tennessee, look no further than the Old Stone Bridge just north of Goodlettsville, Tennessee on the Sumner-Davidson County line, just north of Nashville.

Crossing tranquil Mansker Creek, the Old Stone Bridge was built in 1837 as part of the old Louisville and Nashville Turnpike between those two cities. Its early beginnings featured just a wagon road on a dirt path, with the path eventually becoming a toll road for interstate commerce between the Midwest and the South. The original beginnings of the turnpike seem to document this bridge as one of the oldest, if not the oldest highway bridge in Tennessee. A similar bridge, the Cheek's Tavern stone arch bridge was also built on the turnpike about 20 miles north of here across the Red River in 1841. Together, the two bridges hosted stagecoaches that regularly ran the north-south route, and President Andrew Jackson was said to be a frequent visitor riding on the cobblestones of the road and through the dirt ruts on the bridges.

Today, only one documented segment of the old Louisville and Nashville Turnpike is on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins along the northern boundary of the Fort Knox Military Reservation between Muldraugh and West Point, Kentucky and runs for about three miles towards the Ohio and Salt Rivers.  It includes three stone bridges just like the Old Stone Bridge, but much shorter and built later. Its access is within a military training area at Fort Knox, but the passageway is open to the public most weekends as a hiking trail.

The turnpike on which the Old Stone Bridge was located, was used by both Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War.

The Old Stone Bridge in Goodlettsville is a simple two-span stone elliptical, fixed deck, masonry arch bridge 90 feet long... its longest span is 25 feet. It underwent rehabilitation in 1986 and received an architectural award from the Metropolitan Historical Commission of Nashville-Davidson County. 

The modern day route across the bridge ends at private property on its north end, but the spans across the creek are publicly accessible at the south end. Nearby busy U.S. Highway 31-W once crossed over the arches following the western part of the turnpike north to Louisville, with U.S. Highway 31-E following the eastern part of the turnpike north to Louisville, too.

U.S. 31-W was also the western Chicago-to-Miami route of the famed Dixie Highway. Heading south to Nashville, Highway 31-W crossed the Old Stone Bridge, joined Highway 31-E to become U.S. Highway 31, which then entered Nashville and continued on to Alabama.

The turnpike's nearby namesake, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was completed in 1859, and just like U.S. 31-W, the tracks parallel the turnpike's route north and south between the two cities.