The initials that George Washington carved into the side of the gorge in 1750 are still quite visible today.
Posted on 03/09/2017 7:45:32 AM PST by BenLurkin
Even if you didn't know it was called the "Azure Window" and didn't know it was located on Malta, an island nation in the Mediterranean, you probably recognize pictures of the famous rock formation, a stunning land bridge connecting the island to a massive rock jutting out of the sea
...
While stunning, the collapse does not come as a complete surprise. Formed by erosion, the Window was eventually destined to be destroyed by erosion:
The same waves which carved the window out of the living rock continues to eat away at the structure and threatens to one day cause the slim bridge to collapse. And although the risk does not appear to be imminent, no one can predict with any degree of accuracy when such a collapse will take place.
(Excerpt) Read more at digg.com ...
The initials that George Washington carved into the side of the gorge in 1750 are still quite visible today.
You would think that the Malta/educational institution would have set up a camera to record it 24x7.
That doesn’t look like anything I would have walked over. Its time was up.
I was thinking about that too. I wonder how old the rock formation was and if it was there when Paul was shipwrecked on Malta.
#4 Except at Yahoo news. The comments after the story were:
Where are the before and after photos!
Typical of too many websites that have poor reporting with Yahoo leading the pack.
What, no Video showing the actual collapse?
I will use the standard line, Video or it didn’t happen.
NOTE: “Artist’s impression” found on Google Search, NOT actual pic. Sorry.
I love that place since childhood, have a drawing of it hanging in my home, and made sure I took my offspring there during their childhood also. I recently read it was under new management, having been family owned for centuries before. Very much hope they have not discarded the sound and light show based on the Bible story of creation that they used to show at the bridge after dark; but I'll not be surprised if they ditched it. Saddened, but not surprised.
I think because Natural Bridge is shored up by solid rock and earthmass and does not have the action of tides inside or around it, we can hope for it to last another good while. Do you know if they let people walk on top of it? I don't think so, since there are no guardrails, but no shortage of lawyers in Virginia.
It looks like there was once a land bridge there which may have collapsed, who knows how long ago.
Wow, carriage_hill, that really shows the collapse.
Reading further into page where pic was found, it says:
“Artist’s impression”. My error.
I wouldn’t call it an error. If it is an “artist’s” version, it must be a photoshop.
This made me curious, so I looked around for another article, and found this one:
http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/10/azure-window-soon-to-be-azure-pinnacle.html
Actually, State Highway 11 runs across Natural Bridge, VA.
Thatl's amazing. Hope to get down there once again before I leave this mortal coil; I'll try to remember to check it out.
Here’s a screencap from “Clash of the Titans” in 1980. It was a lot thicker then.
http://naturalarches.org/movies/ClashOfTheTitans.jpg
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
