The Great Bridge-Building Contest

Part David Macaulay’s “The Way Things Work and part Johnny Appleseed, a captivating true story about a dream that came true Roxie Munro and her husband, Bo Zaunders, have created an enthralling illustrated biography set in 1800s Virginia, a wonderful book for budding architects and engineers, as well as bridge and history aficionados. Lemuel Chenoweth is a shy western Virginia furniture maker with only a third-grade education and a vision when he heads to Richmond, Virginia, to enter a bridge-designing contest. Lemuel stuns the judges and the highfalutin’ competition by assembling an extraordinary bridge model, one that can support his own weight, and he wins. Built entirely without nails, his bridge became one of the most famous in the country and was the site of the first land battle of the Civil War. “The Great Bridge-Building Contest tells the dramatic story of its remarkable existence.