Sandys Parish Off The Beaten Path Tips by grandmaR

North Rock Marker

Located on an isolated limestone reef at the northernmost point of the Bermuda archipelago, about 16 km (10 mi) northwest of St. David's Light and accessible only by boat, the real marker is almost inaccessible to the casual visitor. North Rock is an outcrop on the outer edge of the reefs. Beginning in 1593 with the wreck of the "Bonaventure, this reef was the graveyard of many ships. In 1912, a beacon was put on North Rock, and the beacon was rebuilt in 1960 and 1990. In the Dockyard you can see the round 2-stage fiberglass tower mounted on a concrete base which was the foundation of the 1960 beacon.

On the reef, the lower half of tower painted yellow, upper half black. The base originally supported a concrete light tower; later it supported a skeletal tower.

Website: http://www.lighthousestampsociety.org/webstamps/ber.jpg

Somerset Bridge

in 1963, we got off the bus here to see this bridge. Bus routes # 7 and # 8 and the ferry stop here. In 1995, we just looked over at the bridge from the ferry on the way back from the Dockyard.

From the website on Sandys Parish:

"The world's smallest drawbridge connects Somerset Island to the westernmost part of main island. It is where Somerset Road begins. This is an example of the simplest form of drawbridge, in which a timber panel is removed from the center of the bridge to allow the mast of a sailing vessel to pass through the 32-inch plank, with not much room to spare "

"The drawbridge was first built in 1620. When operators of small boats entered the channel, the drawbridge was cranked open by hand. The modern version, rebuilt only a few years ago, has two propped cantilever decks, which do not meet in the middle, with reinforced concrete internal props and timber external props. The cantilevered load is balanced by a reinforced concrete abutment slab which acts as a counterweight. The drawbridge is on the $20 Bermuda dollar bill."

Website: http://bermuda-online.org/seesandy.htm