The Boardwalk: History and Some Repair after 15 Years

Long view of the boardwalk into the marsh — Our boardwalk extending into the marsh (Fall, 2025). The walkway takes off from the mowed lane that runs between the Crane Prairie and the wetland, near the waterfowl box. Picture is taken from Pleasant Valley Road, across the Crane Prairie. Blue Mounds is in the distance.

A boardwalk is a walkway made of boards (strictly speaking) that makes possible foot traffic over wet, soggy ground. The first boardwalk in the United States, and the world’s longest, according to Wikipedia, is in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It opened along the beach in 1870 and is over five and a half miles long. Beach boardwalks seem very popular; wetland trail boardwalks aren’t as well known or enumerated on Wikipedia. The challenge to building such a walkway is to construct with a minimum of disturbance to the marsh.

Atlantic City boardwalk in 1910 — Atlantic City boardwalk, 1910, 100 years before our boardwalk was constructed (from Wikipedia)

Our boardwalk was installed in May, 2010. The bridge over the creek, which is part of the walkway, was put in first, on November 12, 2009. Basically, we constructed 18 separate units, each ten feet long, and then rested them end-to-end atop foundational five-foot sections of telephone poles. Tom has written three blogs on the process. I recommend reading those if you are interested. Search using “boardwalk” and begin with Tom’s “Installing a Boardwalk.”

Four boardwalk sections prior to installation — Me, Marci Hess, and Amanda sitting atop four boardwalk sections ready to be carried into place after the spring thaw (November. 2009, from Tom’s blog)

A boardwalk section being walked into place — A boardwalk section being carried to its place (2010)

View of the footings and bolts keeping the sections in place — Closeup of utility pole foundation and bolts holding the sections together (2010)

Filling in the gaps with individual boards — Me and Amanda adding boards in the gaps where two sections have been joined (2010)

Fast forward to September, 2025. For a few years now, we’ve been badly needing to make repairs to both the original boardwalk and the small bridge extending further into the wetland for willow control.

In September, Amanda and Chris Knief replaced the boards that were broken. Below is a section showing lighter colored new boards.

New boards placed in 2025 — New boards have been added to replace those that have sagged badly and broken since 2010. Amanda and Chris did this work in September, 2025. Note that some of the older boards will need to be replaced in a few years due to sagging and splitting.

Apart from this board replacement, I would say the boardwalk has held up well these past 15 years. When water flowed heavily through the wetland after severe storms, we have had flooding of the entire walk and some shifting of the structure itself. Poles attached to the sections do allow for them to rise and fall with water levels, but some shifting has been unavoidable, though repairable with levers and muscle, thank goodness.

Flooded boardwalk in July, 2017 — Our boardwalk flooded in July, 2017. Note the poles allowing for the walkway to rise with rising waters. Some shifting has occurred through the years, but we’ve been able to straighten the structure with “minimal” muscle (mostly not mine).

And now the “add-on” I call “Amanda’s Bridge.”

At the end of the main boardwalk is a stream that varies in width through the seasons. Our restoration crews need to access invasives on the other side of this creek, so, early on, Amanda and Chris made a little bridge for the purpose.