Saturday, July 27, 2013 part 3
Before I fill you in on the rest of our trip I wanted to answer a question Dan receive from an out of state friend. Here the question and Dan's answer.
Friend: OK, I'm naive. What's the significance of covered
bridges and the hunt for such bridges?
Dan: Good question. The search to 'see' every covered
bridge in the state started when Nancy and I became members of The 251 Club of
Vermont. Members visit every town in the state. This 'club' was founded in
1954, when Dr. Arthur Peach wanted to know about 'all things Vermont' and the
only way was to travel around the state and visit each town. There are 251
official town in the state. At one time there were over 200 covered bridges in
Vermont, and through the years they have been destroyed by floods, vandalized
and burned or simply been updated by new technology. These bridges are works of art, with several basic designers who constructed their bridges regionally
throughout out the state. This 'journey' would be compared to visiting the 46
National Historic Landmarks in New Mexico. Also great Dan & Nancy time,
find little lunch spots, etc.
So ... on with Saturday's trip. From Thetford we took Routes 132 and 14 over to Route 110. Route 110 runs north and south parallel to Route 100. Route 110 is one of my favorite roads and I didn't even realize there were six beautiful covered bridges nearby. The town of Tunbridge owns all five of the well maintained bridges. All all of the bridges are still in use. The Howe Bridge is visible on the right to northbound travelers. Pretty flower filled pails greet visitors to this bridge. An old ladder can be seen hanging inside the bridge.
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| Howe Bridge |
Pretty welcome.
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| Multiple kingposts |
Down a little farm road we located the Cilley Bridge. It looked practically brand new. Notice the windows on one side allow drivers on the bridge to see oncoming traffic.
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| Cilley Bridge |
In the center of Tunbridge, just north of the fairgrounds, is the Mill Bridge surrounded by what is left of various mill buildings. This bridge has also had recent restoration work.
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| Mill Bridge |
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| Windows on one side so oncoming traffic is visible. |
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| One of my favorite bridge shots. |
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| Interesting architecture. |
Located just north of the center of town is the Larkin Bridge. It was built in 1902. I noticed right away that something was different about this bridge. It appeared to be sitting at an angle over the stream. The front opening wasn't squared with the landing. I found out that it is called a 'skewed' bridge. That means the bridge is placed over the stream on a slant. So the bottom of the bridge is actually a trapezoid instead of a rectangle.
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| Larkin Bridge |
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| Larkin Bridge |
The final bridge in Tunbridge is the Flint Bridge. This functional queenpost bridge is the oldest bridge in Tunbridge built in 1845.
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| Flint Bridge |
A quick trip over the narrow Moxley Road (I snapped this road sign for my friend Jeanne in Maine) we arrived at our final bridge for this trip just over the town line in Chelsea. We liked the Moxley Bridge sign. Pretty fancy. The Moxley Bridge is also a skewed bridge. We found out that the Larkin bridge and the Moxley bridge were built by Arthur C. Adams. The area around the Moxley Bridge is charming with a little feeder stream running down a side hill to join the First Branch River.
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| Moxley Bridge |
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| Moxley Bridge, side view |
What a great day we had traveling from the northeast kingdom to New Hampshire to central Vermont. It was a glorious summer day and we enjoyed every spectacular view and new experience. 76 covered bridges so far. 33 more to go. We think there are 109 altogether. Not sure where we will go next weekend but we will have to head south. I am anxious to see the twin bridges in Hartland. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Happy travels.
Nancy
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