This is one of several Real Picture Postcards produced for R. M. Payne who owned and operated Wonder Cave. Dating from 1906, the card shows a dilapidated bridge near Cooley’s Rift, a geological feature destroyed when Interstate 24 was constructed across Monteagle Mountain. Payne, who was from Sweetens Cove near South Pittsburg purchased the cave and surrounding property in 1899 for a mere $200.

Submitted by David Head