BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — A crowd gathered Sunday in downtown Inez to celebrate the renaming of the covered pedestrian bridge over Coldwater Creek in honor of its builder, William “Mug” Hardin.

In a humble, grateful speech, Hardin recounted how the bridge came to be more than 60 years ago during a time when the railroad was under construction in Martin County.

“When this bridge was built back in the ‘60s, the railroad came to Martin County. I was the inspector moving all of the pipelines for Columbia for the railroad,” Hardin said. “I got the pipe that you see that this bridge was built from, from some of the pipelines.”

Hardin recalled how a single contractor assigned to relocate the gas lines donated enough manpower and material to complete the project.

“We had one contractor who worked moving lines, who gave me two welders, two helpers and two laborers to build this bridge,” he said. “It took us three weekends to build it.”

The bridge’s roof, Hardin noted, was came later.

“I don’t know who built the roof, but I think Rick Penix when he was mayor built the roof,” he said.

Hardin thanked Inez Mayor Eddie Daniel and the City Commissioners, saying he never expected the bridge would bear his name.

“I appreciate what Mayor Daniel and this group have done for me,” he said. “I didn’t have any thought of that when this bridge was built.”

Hardin explained his reason for building the bridge.

“If you looked across at Whickerfield at that time, there were children living all the way up to what I still call Ceasar Maynard’s entrance at the upper end of Whickerfield,” he said. “They had to walk down to Middle Fork and cross [the creek] and walk back up to the school, which was right in here. I built this bridge for those kids to come across to go to school.”

With Hardin’s revelation, the bridge—long a popular fixture in the city—holds renewed significance.

“I never had any idea that it would amount to what it has,” said Hardin.

Looking out at the assembled crowd—including members of his family who traveled from out of state—Hardin closed his remarks with a simple, heartfelt message.

“I really appreciate the crowd here today,” he said. “I have family here today, and I appreciate them. All of you, I appreciate you. I just can’t say enough about how much I appreciate this.”