The East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad was chartered in 1866 as a 5-foot broad gauge line from Johnson’s Depot, now Johnson City, to the Cranberry Iron Works in North Carolina. Construction began in 1868 but stopped in 1870 at Doe River Cove, now Hampton, when funding ran out. New owners resumed work in 1879 and changed the gauge to 3-foot narrow gauge. At the meeting of the Little Doe River, also known as Tiger Creek, and the Doe River, the route required a bridge. The Philadelphia firm of Cofrode and Saylor, known for building long wooden bridges, built all of the wooden Howe Truss bridges between Elizabethton and Cranberry in 1881-1882. Two types were built, run-over-the-top bridges and run-through bridges. The 118-foot 8-inch bridge here was a run-through type with two stone abutments, one of which still stands. Originally built with exposed wooden beams, the bridges soon began to rot, so they were rebuilt and covered with siding in the early 1890s, helping them last for decades. The May Tide flood of May 24, 1901 washed out most of the wooden bridges but spared the two at Hampton, here and at Tunnel 1. Over the years most bridges were replaced with steel spans, and by the Great Depression the only wooden bridges left were the two at Hampton. This bridge was the only structure on the railroad to serve unmodified from 1882 to 1950, the entire lifespan of the line, and it was removed in 1951 after the narrow gauge ET&WNC closed.