Bridgewater, Virginia

Bloggers pose in front of entrance to Bridgewater College

We visited Bridgewater, Virginia on June 16 while driving from Charleston, South Carolina to Fairfax, Virginia. On this summer day it seemed to be a sleepy little town. It is a college town though, home to Bridgewater College, and I imagine that in the fall it will become a bustling place. We stopped at the College and pulled into a parking lot that had a sign clearly indicating "College Information". We went into the closest building, which turned out to be the fitness center, and asked the young woman there about the sign. She seemed to have no idea there was a sign there, nor did she appear at all interested in the fact that we were from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and worked at a college with a similar name. She did however, direct us to the admissions office for more information. We picked up a copy of a special section of the Daily News-Record from Harrison,Virginia  dated May 14, 2010 which is a tribute to retiring College President Phillip Stone.

One unfortunate connection we made between Bridgewater State College and Bridgewater College is the proclivity to keep large screen televisions on in various lounge areas even when no one is around to watch them. These use a lot of energy, and BSC has been installing them in quite a few places, even as they build a Sustainability Center on campus. During the last winter break James and I noticed one on in one of the dorm lounges every time we walked by, even though the dorm appeared to be closed otherwise.

Pam poses with large screen television in an otherwise empty room at Bridgewater College

We did notice some cool sculptures on campus including this one:

We did not stay long in Bridgewater, but what we saw reminded us of our former home in Oxford, Ohio - home to Miami University. We also noted the following businesses or organizations that used the name Bridgewater:

Bridgewater Retirement Community

Bridgewater United Methodist Church

Bridgewater Fire Department

Bridgewater Pharmacy

(it was good to see an independent pharmacy going in this age of CVS and Walgreens)

Bridgewater Coin Laundry

Bridgewater Exxon 

 (possibly the only time I've seen this company with a separate franchise name)

Bridgewater Town Center

Bridgewater Plaza

Bridgewater Car Wash

Additionally we noticed the Dayton Mennonite Church, just after we saw a woman in traditional Mennonite dress ride her bike by us

Marshall's Distribution Center is located in Bridgewater, Virginia

The Library is called the North River Library.