Photo of the Day: Bowie’s Only Covered Bridge

This is Bowie’s only covered bridge, which is on Racetrack Road. It is, however, not a bridge for hiking or vehicles of any kind. It is a bridge for horses.

Back in 1986, the Bowie Racetrack was closed and converted to a training facility where thoroughbred houses could be put through their paces. Russ Davies runs Bowie’s Belair Stable Museum and once owned racehorses. He said that every morning, the horses would be walked from their barns on one side of Racetrack Road to the other to run on the racetrack.

Davis said this created quite a traffic jam between animal versus automobile. The horses, said Davies, had the right of way crossing the road. A crossing guard would stop morning rush hour traffic, which Davies said sometimes resulted in backups of more than a mile.

“Thoroughbred racehorses are quite jittery,” said Davies. “Some of them became injured.”

In the late 1980s, the horse bridge was built to take the horses off Racetrack Road, he said.

“It was for the safety of horses, but there were also so many complaints from drivers,” said Davies.