The Commons Blog: Natural Bridge

Natural Bridge

Posted by Jonathan H. Adler · 23 July 2004 · Private Conservation

The picture in the top left corner of you newly redesigned site Natural Bridge of Virginia. Natural Bridge is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Since the nation's founding it has also been protected and conserved through private ownership, not government regulation or public control. At one point, it was even owned by Thomas Jefferson. For more on the history and conservation of Natural Bridge, see this case study by noted conservation scholar R.J. Smith.

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The new blog looks very nice. Soothing, even.

Posted by: titus at July 24, 2004 11:58 AM

Yes, the new blog looks terrific.

Concerning the Natural Bridge, not only is it privately owned, but a visit to this natural national treasure reveals a management organization much more effective in protecting it and the surrounding area, while still appeasing moarket forces and providing pleasurable accomadations, than the National Park Service could ever dream of becoming.

I highly recommend the auto safari park if you take a tip there.

Posted by: Countertop at July 25, 2004 02:53 PM

Johnathan,

I had never seen the Natural Bridge of Virginia as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. In fact, after going through the first 10 pages of a Google query, I still can't find it. The links, I found, which do list the seven natural wonders of the world are shown below:

http://wonderclub.com/WorldWonders/NaturalWonders.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002388/naturalwonders.html
http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/9711/natural.wonders/
http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/ltpisa/7wonders.htm (natural wonders towards bottom of page)
http://www.geocities.com/thesciencefiles/seven/sevenwonders.html (natural wonders at bottom of page)
http://www.kaibab.org/misc/gc_7wond.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/7%20Wonders%20of%20the%20World (halfway down the page)
http://techcenter.davidson.k12.nc.us/fall025/natural/index.htm
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Seven_Wonders_of_the_World (halfway down the page)
http://www.tramline.com/tours/sci/natwon/_tourlaunch1.htm
http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/natural/index.html
http://columbusoh.about.com/cs/historygenealogy/a/blog0002.htm

Could you show me the source of your information?

Thanks,

-Sandi

Posted by: Sandi at July 26, 2004 07:23 PM

Natural Bridge's current owners claim it as one of the sven natural wonders. I've looked into this a bit more, and it appears there are various lists of the seven natural wonders, and they are not all consistent. See, e.g., the commentary here: http://www.leaptoad.com/ahp/naturalbridge.html

In any event, Natural Bridge is a natural wonder, and worth the visit.

JHA

Posted by: Jonathan H. Adler at July 26, 2004 07:51 PM

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