Vermont Covered Bridges: Bridge Work - Repaired, Replaced, Restored

The rain has finally stopped. A perfect day for a drive. One of our favorite roads when we are headed south on the west side of Vermont is Spear Street. 40 mph, pretty views and just a few stop signs. Just north of Ferrisburg in the town of Charlotte next to Spear Street is the Quinlan Bridge. As you can see it is undergoing a huge renovation. Interesting to see the 'bones' unveiled. It has a Burr arch and multiple kingposts. We will return to this bridge in the fall and check on the building progress.

Quinlan Bridge, Charlotte

Back tracking a little way and taking a side road (I was driving and Dan was navigating) we located the sweet little Sequin Bridge.

Sequin Bridge, Charlotte

Did you know that in the old days covered bridges often served as a place to house your mailbox. Apparently it still is a good idea today!

Onward to Swamp Road on the Cornwall Salisbury border. We ran into a bit of a situation here. Notice the hinge on the Road Closed High Water sign it's hinged. My guess ... a frequent occurrence. How bad can it be? We always have to check.

Swamp Road

Probably not a good idea. But we gave it our best shot.

So close yet so far!

Cheryl said there is a law against it!!!

Backed up quite a way to get to a spot where we could turn around! Pretty sure the bridge was just out of sight! It was kind of strange that there is a forest in this swamp.

Next stop the other railroad bridge in Vermont. The East Shoreham Railroad Bridge is no longer in use.

East Shoreham Railroad Bridge

We reached it by parking in a VT Fish and Wildlife Access Area. We had to hike in a quarter mile or so. We got attacked by mosquitoes the minute we stepped on the bridge! It was pretty swampy area.

When we left the Railroad bridge we decided to find another way to get to the Cornwall Salisbury Bridge.
Finally we arrived at the other end of Swamp Road called Creek Road and found the Cornwall Salisbury Bridge. Nicely restored. Boy was the Otter Creek high! Ran into a sheriff (not literally) on the other side of this bridge. I think he was monitoring the water level. We laughed at the three people on some kind of an atv (an amphibious 6 by 6) slogging through the deep water. The sheriff was kind of interested in what they were doing as well! We didn't hang around to see what happened.

Cornwall Salisbury Bridge

Otter Creek (Flood)

Look at the size of those wooden pegs!

Bridge frame.

If you look closely at the photo above you can see the water on the side of the road from the flooding.

Lunch time at the Cattails Restaurant on Route 7 just north of Brandon. We have been by this place many times. Perfect time to stop in for a bite. We ate out on the screened porch.

Lunch was very good.

A short ride later we approached the Sanderson Bridge, the only covered bridge in Brandon.

Sanderson Bridge in Brandon

Hammond Covered Bridge, Pittsford

This bridge is massive. It is closed to vehicle traffic but a walking path winds through it (guiding you over the sturdy parts!) Thank goodness for Yankee ingenuity. The Hammond Bridge was washed a mile downstream during the great flood of 1927. A local engineer won a bid to move the bridge back into place. While the river was still flooded (the wheels of government must have turned more quickly back then) Mr. Tennien placed barrels under the bridge filled with air and used horses to float the bridge back upstream! They filled the barrels with water to lower the bridge back into position.

Depot Bridge, Pittsford

It was a leaning!

I read that leaning is often a design flaw of town lattice style covered bridges that are located broadside to prevailing winds.

Can you tell the next two bridges were designed and built by a man (Abraham Owen) and his apprentice (Nicholas Powers)? The gabled ends are unique.

Cooley Bridge, Pittsford

Gorham Bridge, Pittsford

I love the lattice work showing through the side of the Gorham bridge. I just have to mention that we walked over many of these bridges and they really have a distinctive smell. Old, woody, moist, solid.

Another frame.

After a brief side trip to the Diamond Rum Mall in Rutland (wow, at least a third of the stores were vacant and there were hardly any shoppers on a Saturday afternoon) we headed across Vermont on Route 4. Our first stop was the Lincoln Bridge.

Lincoln Bridge, Woodstock

Under the Lincoln Bridge. The water wasn't too high here.

Apparently some of the locals were not happy about the green fiberglass panels that were used to roof the bridge during restoration in 1988. According to Ed Barna, the panels were installed to lighten the inside of the bridge and prevent accidents.

The Middle Bridge in Woodstock is just beautiful. It's a new bridge (relatively speaking) built in the old style in 1969. We had fun visiting with a couple who had been married in a covered bridge in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. They said they had visited most of the covered bridges in Vermont.

Middle Bridge, Woodstock

A wild goose chase later looking for the Frank Lewis bridge (which is gone) we found the Smith Bridge in South Pomfret. This open town lattice bridge is private and pretty.

Smith Bridge, Pomfret

Matchy, matchy.

The horses were in a field by the Billings Farm and Museum.

The Taftsville Bridge, the third oldest covered bridge in Vermont, is undergoing a major restoration. It was built in 1836. It is 20 feet wide and 189 feet long. Yup, we drove down the "residents only" road to get close enough to photograph this bridge. Some other covered bridge enthusiasts were down there as well. I am so happy that even in tough economic times Vermont's historic covered bridges receive the attention and maintenance they need. With the exception of the Hammond Bridge all 14 of the covered bridges we saw today are being well cared for!

Taftsville Bridge

Side view

What a turkey.

Our final bridge of the day was the brand new Quechee Covered Bridge. Amazing what can happen in just a short period of time when catastrophe strikes. The Quechee Bridge was nearly destroyed when Tropical Storm Irene ravaged Vermont in 2011. The town, state, and federal governments all worked together to completely replace the bridge in just over a year!

Brand new Quechee Bridge!

I had to keep an eye on Dan here. He was out walking a part of a dam back near the Taftsville bridge.

Dan did some research on covered bridges this week but since this post got really long I will add his information next time.

As I was working on this blog post I heard a commotion out in front of my house. A bunch of cars, a large white van. Voices. And finally the sound only a hot air balloon can make. Good pilot. Good pilot. Holy crap!