Natural bridge

[This is from my letter to William Carmichael on December 26, 1786, regarding a natural geological formation of an arch on my land that is 215 feet high and 90 feet across.]

I shall be proud to be permitted to send a copy also to the Count de Campomanes as a tribute to his science and his virtues. You will find in them that the Natural bridge had found an admirer in me also. I should be happy to make with you the tour of the curiosities you will find therein mentioned. That kind of pleasure surpasses much in my estimation whatever I find on this side the Atlantic. I sometimes think of building a little hermitage at the Natural bridge (for it is my property) and of passing there a part of the year at least.

Natural Bridge, 1852, Frederic Edwin Church