You’ve probably never given this much thought, but we’ll ask the question anyway.
Have you ever wondered – or even noticed – that Cherry Street becomes wider as it approaches Main Street? This widening begins abruptly near the alley behind the Twisted Whisk Café.
Beyond that, have you ever noticed that the curb is very thick limestone in this wider portion of the street?
What’s this all about?
Well, in the 1880s Cherry Street near Main was a parking area for horses and buggies. You can see this in the photo accompanying this article. There is horse trough near the intersection.
This parking area was no doubt angle parking, and thus it needed a wider street width. With the coming of the automobile and the disappearance of the horse and buggy this widened portion of the street simply became part of the accepted downtown street layout.
In a way, it outlived its usefulness.
Now to the limestone. Look at the photo with this story.
That’s pretty thick limestone. Really thick. It’s no wonder that it is still guarding the sidewalk. In fact, it has outlived at least three different cement curb projects on Main Street, due to its durability.
We wonder how deep into the roadbed the limestone sits. Can you imagine the manpower it took to cut, lift, haul and install all that limestone? Not to mention digging the space for the limestone to fit.
The limestone is from a Bluffton quarry. It is very possibly from the Buckeye, as the stone there was noted for its thickness. And, speaking of the Buckeye, we’ll talk later about how it came to be a quarry filled with water (it wasn't always filled with water).
Today, this wide portion of Cherry Street and the limestone curb is all forgotten Bluffton.
