Background:
Natural Bridge is a geological formation in Rockbridge County, Virginia, comprising a 215-foot-high (66 m) natural arch with a span of 90 feet (27 m). It is situated within a gorge carved from the surrounding mountainous limestone terrain by Cedar Creek, a small tributary of the James River. Consisting of horizontal limestone strata, Natural Bridge is the remains of the roof of a cave or tunnel through which the Cedar Creek once flowed.
Natural Bridge has been designated a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark.
The Natural Bridge was a sacred site of the Native American Monacan tribe, who believed it to be the site of a major victory over pursuing Powhatans centuries before the arrival of Europeans in Virginia.
In March 1742, a frontiersman named John Howard — along with his son and others — was commissioned by Governor Gooch to explore the southwest of Virginia as far as the Mississippi River. The party followed Cedar Creek through the Natural Bridge, then floated in buffalo-skin boats down the New, Coal, Kanawha, and Ohio rivers to the Mississippi.
It is alleged that George Washington also came to the site in 1750 as a young surveyor. To support claims that Washington surveyed the area, tour guides claim the initials G.W. on the wall of the bridge, 23 feet (7.0 m) up, were carved by the future president. Legend also has it that George Washington threw a rock from the bottom of Cedar Creek over the bridge. In 1927, a large stone was found, also engraved G.W. and bearing a surveyor\\\\\\\'s cross, which historians accepted as proof that he indeed surveyed the bridge.
Thomas Jefferson purchased 157 acres (64 ha) of land including the Natural Bridge from King George III of England for 20 shillings in 1774. He called it the most Sublime of nature\\\\\\\'s works. Jefferson built a two-room log cabin, with one room reserved for guests, beginning its use as a retreat. While President, in 1802, he personally surveyed the area. Many famous guests stayed here, including John Marshall, James Monroe, Henry Clay, Sam Houston, and Martin Van Buren.
Natural Bridge was one of the biggest tourist attractions of the new world that Europeans visited during the 18th and 19th centuries. Vacationing guests from all over the world took day trips from Natural Bridge on horseback or horse-drawn carriages to explore the countryside. In 1833, a new owner erected the Forest Inn to accommodate the increasing number of people.
The bridge had considerable notoriety during the 19th century. Herman Melville alluded to the bridge in describing Moby-Dick: But soon the fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia\\\\\\\'s Natural Bridge... William Cullen Bryant, another American literary figure, said that Natural Bridge and Niagara Falls were the two most remarkable features of North America. During the 1880s Natural Bridge was a resort owned by Colonel Henry Parsons, who also owned the nearby Rockbridge Inn.

Meyer, Herrmann Julius 1826 – 1909
Herrmann Julius Meyer and his father, Joseph Meyer (1796-1856) were German publishers of an illustrated travel series called Meyers Universum: Ein Jahrbuch für Freunde der Natur und Kunst
After an apprenticeship as a bookseller, he returned to work in his fathers publishing house that was founded in Gotha in 1826 as a bibliographic institute.
Joseph Meyer had admired the people and institutions of America and sent his son to establish a printing house in New York. In 1852 Herrmann published an American edition of the Universum Views Of The Most Remarkable Places And Objects Of All Countries which was published by the North American Bibliographic Institution (New York: H.J. Meyer; first volume, 1852; second volume 1853.) using prints from Germany.
In 1855 Meyer published The United States Illustrated; in Views of City and Country, with Descriptive and Historical Articles enlisting the services of Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Tribune, to be editor of the series. Unfortunately, the series did not do well as most titles were a mix of German and English, making them scarce to find today of excellent views of early America.
Herrmann Meyer had six sons, among them: Hans (Africa researcher and first ascendant of Kilimanjaro, 1858-1929), Arndt (1859-1920), Carl (1861-1908) and Hermann (1871-1932, also explorer in Africa).
In 1884 Herrmann Meyer withdrew from the publishing house and handed it over to his eldest sons Arndt and Hans.
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