Covington, Kentucky

Covington sits just south of Cincinnati, Ohio, on the other side of the Ohio River, and is considered to be part of the “Greater Cincinnati Area.” It did feel like one big city as we crossed back and forth several times during our stay.

John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge

The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (formerly the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge) was the first bridge to span the Ohio River. It was the longest suspension bridge in the world (1,057 feet) at the time, a true engineering marvel.

It was 20 years in the making, with arguments over length, placement, height, funding and anything else that could be argued over. Though the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Company was incorporated in 1846, ten years passed before work commenced.

Construction advanced slowly, with technical difficulties, weather issues, management turnover, and funding problems. Then the Civil War broke out – but rather than halting progress, it made it ever more clear how much a permanent bridge was needed. At that point funding was secured and construction continued at a steady pace.

More than 166,000 people walked across the bridge the first two days it was open in late 1866, though it construction was not formally complete until 1867.

John A. Roebling was the engineer of the bridge. He went on to design the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, which came in at nearly 1,600 feet in length.

Today about 9,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day. It’s also got pedestrian pathways on both sides, for easy walking between Kentucky and Ohio. We naturally walked over and back.

The Roebling Murals

A flood wall along the Ohio River at the base of the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge is host to 18 panels created by muralist Robert Dafford. Dafford and a team of assistants painted the panels between 2002 and 2005. They tell the story of Covington in people, places and events.

*Flight of the Garner Family* commemorates the family’s escape from slavery in 1856. Yet it’s not a tale with a happy ending: they were caught the following morning, and the story turns horrific from there. It was the inspiration for Toni Morrison’s novel *Beloved*.

*Artists in Residence* features Henry Farny and Frank Duveneck. Though we were not familiar with these artists, we subsequently saw their names pop up several times in our art museum visits.

Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption

Why is there always some kind of construction outside when we visit?

That big window on the left side is supposedly the world’s largest handmade church stained glass window at 67 feet by 24 feet.

I loved the light colors of the rose windows. The cathedral is home to three pipe organs!

Construction of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption began in 1895. The first service was held in 1901, though work continued until 1915. But that doesn’t mean it was finished –– far from it. In fact, the cathedral remains unfinished to this day, with two planned 52-foot towers unbuilt.

24 statues were installed in the empty niches at the cathedral’s entrance only in 2021! It’s not clear what else remains to be finished, or if they plan on finishing it, because of course by now, restoration work is needed. We did notice that the ceilings seemed awfully bare, and wondered if this was intentional or not.

Regardless, the cathedral is light-filled inside and was truly beautiful in its current state.