Fred Yenerall 1907-1983

Mary Yenerall, Karen, Judy, Kay At Dice Covered Bridge

Covered bridges were the things that Fred Yenerall (1907-1983) loved to photograph the most. His collection has mostly covered bridges. He would take many photos of the same bridges, over the course of many years, and at different seasons. This gives us the opportunity to look at the bridge at various stages of deterioration. He would take his 3 granddaughters with him sometimes when he went to take photos. We visited many bridges that were close by where we lived, mostly in Washington, or Somerset or Greene County Pennsylvania.

We used to love running through the bridges, listening to our feet echo through out the bridge as we ran on the wooden floors. we would be allowed to stand and peer out the windows on the side of the bridge, and we would throw rocks out the openings so it would splash in the creek under the bridge. We would race through the bridge to see who got to the other side first. We always got our photo taken at the bridge. that was non-negotiable with him. We would spend hours a the bridges just playing while he took his photos, watching as he would climb hills, and lean against trees or he would walk down the dirt roads, move to different sides of the bridge trying to get that perfect shot. He would take several photos of the bridges, each time writing it down. He would then yell at us to hide so we didn't get in the photo. Sometimes he would just stay there and wait for the sun to hit the bridge just right. Of course, we didn't go to just one bridge, we had to travel to several different bridges, he had his itinerary of places we had to get to during the day.


Fred Yenerall at a Covered Bridge in Greene County, PA

Grandma would open the trunk where she kept her woven wicker basket full of our lunches, and throw out a blanket on the ground so we could eat lunch at the bridge. Grandpa would grab a quick sandwich and go back to taking his pictures. Once we ate our lunches, we weren't allowed in the water anymore because of the "30 minute no swimming rule" that you can't be in water for 30 minutes after eating. Even if you weren't swimming, you couldn't even wade in the creek according to her rules.



Karen and Judy at Old Furnace, somewhere in PA

On the way home from the bridge he may stop and take photos of an old wood church, a road sign, or maybe a barn that we would pass. Sometimes we had to stay in the car, while he took the pictures. Our complaints about how we just wanted to get home fell on deaf ears with him, he knew we were tired, but it didn't matter, we did things on his schedule. he would take several pictures of each thing he took, then spend several minutes writing the details down in his little notepad that he carried in his shirt pocket. To the 3 little girls in the back of the Rambler, it was an eternity.

Those are the days that I wish that we could have back. While I don't remember the exact bridges we visited, because at that age, they all looked the same, I still have the photos showing that we were were, and I can go back in my memory and remember the peaceful days we experienced and the we had there, and remember how special our grandparents really were.

All of the Fred Yenerall Collection can be found here. While not all the photos are uploaded yet, we upload quite often as we get them scanned and restored.