Golden Gate Memories in the Family

(click on the photo above to get an up close and personal view)

A walk to and/or over the Golden Gate Bridge is a lovely long walk from San Francisco's Presidio, a lovely destination in it's own right. Recently I went to an exhibit about artist Mary Blair at the Disney Family Museum while my husband hoofed it out to the Bridge. Still  recovering my health a bit, I contented myself with taking a photo of the bridge, from the back side of the museum. Reflections on his families history, in regards to the bridge, have me planning a fall walk out onto the span. Such a promenade is a the perfect local field trip.

John A. Roebling was famed for wire rope suspension bridges, like the Brooklyn Bridge and another well known construction San Francisco Bay Area locals still admire. My mother-in-law was always very proud of her father, Willard G. Marks', work for the John A. Roebling company, which supplied the cable for the Golden Gate Bridge. Each of her children inherited little sample paper weights of cable used for the bridge. Ours is on display on the secretary desk in our living room.

It turns out there was more to the provision of that cable, than simply rolling it up and sending it over. PBS did a special on the Roebling Crew's work for this huge undertaking. 

Nice knowing my husband's family has an interest in what it is that keeps our footing sure, when we take a walk across this beauty.

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Web Resources

Spinning the Cables -- The Golden Gate Bridge (Roebling Crew) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/goldengate-spinning/

John A. Robling (Johann August Rõbling) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Roebling

The Roebling Museum is in New Jersey http://roeblingmuseum.org/about-us/the-roeblings-sons-co/