Charming Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania

Growing up in Pennsylvania means that Covered Bridges are part of every day life: Charming and useful, all different, and a reminder of forgotten days. I walk or drive over a covered bridge nearly every day. My idea for this video was to give those unfamiliar with these wonderful structures a glimpse. I could only show a small sampling of covered bridges here in Pennsylvania, and of course, there are many surviving covered bridges in other states. Most of the bridges are identified in the video. Some that are not: at 1:40 is Greisemer Mill Covered Bridge built 1832, north of Yellow House in Berks County; at 4:28 is Pool Forge Covered Bridge, built 1859, west of Churchtown in Lancaster County; the second to the last photo is the Kennedy Covered Bridge, north of Kimberton on Seven Stars Road, built in 1866. It burned down in 1986, and a replica was built in 1988. The last photo is of the famous Knox Covered Bridge over Valley Creek in Valley Forge, built in 1865, restored in 1996 (both in Chester County). These bridges are all examples of the Burr Arch Truss design, invented in 1804 by Theodore Burr.
The first US covered bridge was located in Philadelphia over the Schuylkill River at 30th Street and built in 1800 by Timothy Palmer, a master carpenter from Newburyport, Massachusetts. The investors asked to have it covered in the hopes of extending the life of the bridge. And the covered bridge era began.
Since the heyday of the covered bridge in the 1800s they have been rapidly disappearing through flood, fire, and replacement. Prior to the Hurricane Agnes Flood of 1972, Pennsylvania had 271 covered bridges, spread across 41 of its 67 counties. Since that time the number has decreased.
Three top covered bridge architects built across the Delaware River: the 1806 Theodore Burr Bridge between Morrisville and Trenton, second oldest covered bridge in the United States; the 1806 Timothy Palmer Bridge at Easton; and the 1814 Lewis Wernwag Bridge at New Hope. All of these wooden structures have been replaced.
Originally six wooden bridges spanned the Wissahickon Creek; today only the Thomas Mill Bridge remains.
Many covered bridges owe their present fine condition to groups who maintain, restore, rebuild, and preserve them.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Covered
• Bridges
• Pennsylvania
• Chester
• County
• French
• Creek
• Scenic
• Crossings
• Glen
• Hope
• Bridge
• Sheeder
• Hall
• Rapps
• Dam
• Lancaster
• Sach's
• covered
• bridge
• Gettysburg
• Pine
• Grove
• Berks
• Knox
• Valley
• Forge
• Seven
• Stars
• Theodore
• Burr
• Arch
• Rivers
• historic
• bridges

[canopyroad]

Beautiful!  Thank you for posting it.

[aireschel1787]

@canopyroad very happy you enjoyed this!

[fritzmerde]

Seeing this reminds me of how blind I can be. I grew up 10 minutes from VF park & crossed that bridge 1000s of times. I've probably fished every river & stream in PA. & have walked across dozens of covered bridges. I can't recall ever stopping & thinking wow what a great piece of history. Agnes was unbelievable, & the 1st "disaster" I can recall. Anyway thanks for reminding me to stop & smell the roses.

[aireschel1787]

@fritzmerde I know what you mean, also crossed the Knox Covered Bridge in Valley Forge thousands of times in my childhood, and took it for granted. Now I realize how very fortunate we are, not only to have some of these historic structures around, but that they are preserved as often as possible. Especially when so much of modern life, malls, corporate centers, crowded developments, traffic clogged highways surround these reminders of a quieter, less hectic day.

[ClearfieldPA]

Wonderful/special post and I truly appreciate the work you did here. Do you know how many are left in Pennsylvania?

[aireschel1787]

@ClearfieldPA thank you very much for your comment. Glad you had your special moment under a covered bridge! Next week I plan to do a mini tour of just covered bridges in southern Chester County and take some late autumn photos.

[psycospaz]

I live about 5 minutes away from Kennedy covered bridge, always loved that bridge.

[aireschel1787]

@ClearfieldPA Hurricane Irene, end Aug. 2011 damaged/destroyed covered bridges in Vermont. Flooding from Tropical Storm Lee in Sept. 2011 damaged several Pennsylvania covered bridges. In Lancaster County, Siegrist Mill (built 1885) spanning Chiques Creek was washed downstream, but is mostly intact. Plans are being formed to hoist it back into place. Pinetown (1867) over the Conestoga River, (rebuilt after Hurricane Agnes 1972) significantly damaged in this latest storm and remains closed.

[ClearfieldPA]

@ClearfieldPA Sorry...I see you noted 200. That is darn good as I believe the total is 750 in the US. Yes, we have an affinity and yes, I had the most special kiss under one.

[aireschel1787]

@sjtom57 thank you very much! In addition to many surviving covered bridges, Pennsylvania has many old abandoned roads, barns, old cemeteries (one of my favourites), train tracks, lots to keep someone who wants to find history underneath the modern overlay busy. (P.S. As a rule, I don't screen my comments, and had not on this video, don't know how it changed)