One of the county’s top tourist attractions will soon have a security system installed in hopes it will deter vandalism.
Morris Tippin with Friends of the Medora Covered Bridge and Area and electrician Brad Nolan recently presented the Jackson County Commissioners with a plan to install electricity and a security system at the bridge.
The bridge has been a target for vandalism, including graffiti, damage and more. In January, local citizens offered a reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of those who were responsible for a half-dozen graffiti marks.
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The cost of the project was not available. It will be paid for by the group’s fundraising efforts.
“We’ve been working at this the last nine years,” Tippin said.
Nolan said the plan includes adding five or six high-resolution cameras with night vision on the bridge. He said entrances and different areas of the bridge would be under surveillance with time stamps.
It also would allow the group to watch the cameras from a computer in real time as long as there was internet access at the bridge, which also is part of the proposal. One camera will be set in the parking area.
The plan includes the addition of four vintage light fixtures, which can be used during the annual Dinner on the Bridge.
The group plans to have Duke Energy bore a line to set a transformer to run electricity. Nolan said he would construct a 6-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide wall where a panel will be placed.
Commissioners also voted to pay for future fixed costs like internet and electricity through the county’s bridge maintenance fund.
The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, and a restoration project was completed in 2011.
The bridge — constructed by J.J. Daniels in 1875 — is one of the county’s biggest attractions, drawing tens of thousands of visitors annually and bringing income into the county. Visitors from all 50 states and many countries around the world have visited it.
It’s touted as the longest historic covered bridge in the country at 461 feet long and spans the East Fork White River parallel to State Road 235.