America's Covered Bridges. Ronald G. Knapp
inconvenient exclusions because, here and there modest, homemade covered bridges have long been included in the “canon” of genuine entries, the World Guide. Delisting them after many decades will upset some.
Putnam County, Indiana’s Oakalla Bridge, which dates to 1898 and is a 152-foot Burr truss span, carries the light traffic of a classic country road. (A. Chester Ong, 2011)
A late example of the Paddleford truss, built in 1890, the Saco River Bridge sits within the town of Conway, New Hampshire, and remains open to traffic. (A. Chester Ong, 2010)
Although built late in the nineteenth century (1898), the Oakalla Bridge in Putnam County, Indiana, is a classic Burr truss typical of bridges built eighty or more years earlier. (A. Chester Ong, 2011)
Both to enhance the county’s long-running covered bridge festival and to provide a practical crossing, County Engineer John Smolen built the State Road Bridge in 1983 in Ashtabula County, Ohio, using a traditional Town lattice truss. (Terry E. Miller, 2006)
One of Smolen’s many “neo-traditional” bridges, the Caine Road Bridge, built in 1986 in Ashtabula County, Ohio, combines wood and steel to form a new version of the Pratt truss. (Terry E. Miller, 2009)
The Chua Cau (Pagoda Bridge) in Hoi An, Vietnam, usually called in English the “Japanese Covered Bridge,” has multiple stone arches and a wooden covered walkway along with a small temple over the water behind the bridge and entered from it. Built in the early seventeenth century by Japanese craftsmen who resided in Hoi An, the bridge is now an important part of this UNESCO World Heritage City. (Terry E. Miller, 2009)
Considering structure as the key factor also raises the question of which trusses are authentic. Some of the recently built “neo-traditional covered bridges,” such as Ashtabula County, Ohio’s State Road Bridge (35-04-58), built in 1983, make use of traditional trusses (in this case a Town lattice). But Ashtabula County has also constructed other new bridges using variants of the more modern Pratt truss (typical of metal bridges), such as the Caine Road Bridge constructed in 1986 and the Smolen-Gulf Bridge constructed in 2008. The Pratt truss is atypical among historical bridges, though not unprecedented.
Additionally, if having a “functional” truss is a requirement, then what about authentic bridges that have been reinforced to the point that the trusses, while present, no longer bear the load or merely support themselves and not the deck? When supports are added, these, rather than the trusses, support the bridge. Additional steel I-beams hidden beneath the deck to fully support the bridge render the trusses non-functional. By that standard, the 1894 Meems Bottom Bridge in Shenandoah County, Virginia, which was partially burned but could be saved and reopened supported by I-beams, would no longer qualify. The 1852 “double-barrel” bridge at Philippi, West Virginia, made famous as a battle site during the Civil War, is now a modern concrete and steel bridge housed over by the original trusses and roof and would also not qualify.
Less satisfactory is a definition that privileges age and date of construction. It is agreed that the “golden age” of covered bridges was the nineteenth century, but basing authenticity on age creates more problems than it solves. Virtually all of Oregon’s bridges were not only built after 1900 but continued to be built routinely into the 1950s. The same holds true for Québec and New Brunswick in Canada, where many bridges (all in New Brunswick) were built after 1900 and as late as the 1950s. Using date of construction as the determinant would also eliminate from consideration all newly cloned bridges, authentic in construction, but mostly built after 1990.
Ascertaining original intention is a difficult criterion. If the reason for building the covered bridge is purely pragmatic and functional, that is, as the best solution based on questions of efficiency and cost, then the bridge is arguably authentic regardless of age, truss, or material. Ashtabula County, Ohio’s Smolen-Gulf Bridge, dedicated in 2008 with Pratt trusses measuring 613 feet (making it the longest covered bridge in the United States, if accepted as authentic), was considered an appropriate choice by its builder, John Smolen. But do we wish to accept or reject this bridge based on the question of whether wood construction was cheaper than concrete and steel? And can we be sure that tourism was not a major factor in a county which features its covered bridges in an annual festival?
Building “covered” bridges for reasons of nostalgia or ambiance, especially with tourists in mind, would seem to exclude them based on the question of intention. This criterion makes it difficult to accept most of the new bridges, many of which might fail on other criteria as well. For example, the covered steel truss bridge in Ohio’s Mohican State Park, built for atmosphere rather than function, fails on several counts, including date, material, and intention. But can we be sure of the intention for (re)building Madison County, Iowa’s Cedar/Casper Bridge, whose original was burned by arsonists in 2002? When the county cloned the bridge in 2004 using its original plans, was it because this was the best solution for crossing Cedar Creek or because Madison County wished to maintain all examples of its greatest tourist draw—its covered bridges—based on the success of Robert James Waller’s novel, The Bridges of Madison County, and the movie of the same name?
Constructed in 1966 and the fourth bridge at this site since 1890, Lane County, Oregon’s Belknap Bridge spans the scenic McKenzie River. Although a typical Oregon Howe truss crossing, its late date of construction is slightly past the years when such covered bridges were still normal in Oregon, and Lane County’s reputation for bridges likely influenced the decision on replacement after its predecessor flooded out in 1964. (A. Chester Ong, 2012)
Meryl Streep, a war bride named Francesca Johnson, and Clint Eastwood, a National Geographic photographer named Robert Kinkaid, with Madison County, Iowa’s Roseman Bridge. The 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County was adapted from Iowa author Robert James Waller’s 1992 novel of the same name. For the film, county officials agreed to “age” the bridge to make it appear more rustic than its modern upkeep did. A Broadway musical based on the story will open in 2014. (Warner Brothers)
We could ask, what is the purpose for list making, such as the World Guide? What do readers (including those of this book) want to know? If the purpose is to list and discuss every known covered bridge in the land regardless of its attributes, multiple volumes might be required. If the list’s purpose is to identify only the strictly historical bridges, then it will be a rather slender volume. Would readers like to know about clones such as Kentucky’s Bennett Mill Bridge and the out-of-whole-cloth Town lattice State Road Bridge in Ohio’s Ashtabula County? Should they also know about the same county’s newest bridge, the gigantic Smolen-Gulf Bridge? I think most do. Further, should they know about Parke County, Indiana’s newly rebuilt Bridgeton Bridge whose burned original was central to the county’s covered bridge festival?
Built in 1858 over the Battenkill by Ephraim Clapp, the Eagleville Bridge in Washington County, New York, had to be restored in 1977 after suffering severe damage in a flood. (A. Chester Ong, 2010)
Crossing the Wallkill River just east of I-87 in Ulster County, New York, Perrine’s Bridge was originally built c. 1844–50 by Benjamin Wood using the Burr truss. After being closed in 1930, the bridge deteriorated