Three battles were fought during the Civil War to maintain control over what was then the L&N bridge over Green River in Munfordville.

“The position was so important that the village of Munfordville was occupied for the entire five years of the Civil War by one army or another and three distinct battles were fought on the same field for control of the bridge,” said Tres Seymour, a member of the Hart County Historical Society and director of Battle for the Bridge Historic Preserve.

Seymour, who by day is a visual information specialist for Mammoth Cave National Park, will be Saturday’s guest speaker for the monthly All Aboard Series at the Old L&N Depot. He will begin his discussion at 8:30 a.m. about the role “The Battle for the Bridge” played during the Civil War.

His lecture precedes by a few weeks the grand opening of some interpretative trails at the 220-acre protected battleground.

Now owned by CSX Railroad, the bridge was one of the last north-south connections to be made.

Stonecutters John W. Key and his two sons from Hawesville were brought in 1857 to cut the stone and erect the peers.

“Then a German engineer, Albert Fink, came to construct the trestle using a truss of his own design,” Seymour said. “When completed in 1859, the bridge was the longest iron structure in the United States and was the second longest in North America after the Victoria Bridge in Montreal. It was 1,000 feet in length.

“The bridge was a vital link during the Civil War for both Union and Confederate armies because it allowed the transport of military troops and material into the deep South.”

Next to the battlefield is the historic home of Anthony Woodson, the landowner of the property during the Civil War. Its first floor will be opened, along with the 2.25 miles of trails, Dec. 17 as a visitors’ center and museum.

“He was a reasonably well off gentleman farmer but was ruined by events of the Civil War when soldiers occupied his home, burned rail fences, trampled crops and built fortifications on his farm,” Seymour said. “He and the house survived the war, but his claim to Congress for war reparations was denied right after the Civil War because a local informant said it was thought he was a Confederate sympathizer. It was only after several years of effort (in 1892) that he finally received about one-third of what he had asked for in reparations.”

Seymour said the original antebellum home caught fire in 1888 and burned to the ground. Woodson used his war reparation to rebuild the house in the exact style and on the same foundation as the original.

“So the significance of the home is that it represents the struggle of civilians to survive the Civil War and to recover during the period of reconstruction that followed,” he said.

The preserve is a partnership with the Hart County Historical Society, the Civil War Preservation Trust, based in Washington, D.C., and private landowners who have donated easements to protect their property in the preserve.

Currently there are 12 interpretive wayside exhibits along the 2.25 mile trails, which are now open daily during daylight hours.

Seymour said plans are to complete work on the Woodson House and to expand exhibits to the second floor; expand the small re-enacting zone on the grounds and place a picnic area within a half-scale model of an earthwork fortification.

The topic for Dec. 27’s series will be “Hands of the Railroad” - exploring the various jobs and their importance to the railroad. The speaker will be Charlie Castner, L&N archivist - the L&N Archives at the University of Louisville is named in his honor - and historian.

— For more information, call (270) 774-2098 or visit www.battle

forthebridge.org.