Miscellaneous Bridge Facts

Only 73 historic covered bridges that are over water, and open to public, vehicular traffic remain in Vermont.

7 historic covered bridges are no longer open to traffic.

11 historic covered bridges were, or are now, private and not open for public use.

2 historic covered bridges are railroad bridges.

The Taft Bridge was built in Vermont around 1874 and now crosses the Quinebaug River in Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts.

The Pinsley Bridge is a covered railroad bridge built in Montpelier, Vt in 1904. It was moved to North Woodstock, NH in 1964.

One Vermont community elected to replace a deteriorating steel and concrete bridge with a new wooden bridge.

The longest covered bridge in Vermont is the West Dummerston Bridge which is 280 feet long.

Essex and Grand Isle counties (Vt) have no historic covered bridges.

Bridges were covered to protect the main structure from the elements.

Two covered bridges can be seen at the same time when you are in two locations in Vermont. In Northfield Falls (Station & Newell) and in North Hartland (Willard Bridge - East and West Twins). The East Twin is the historic bridge and the West Twin was built in 2001.

Once Vermont had more than 600 bridges. The 1927 flood left only about 200 in place or capable of being put back in place. Since then more have been lost to floods and other causes and fewer than 100 historic bridges remain today.

The Pulpmill bridge and the Shelburne Museum bridge are the only two remaining two-lane bridges in Vermont.

Emily's Bridge (or Gold Brook Bridge) is believed by many to be haunted.

Covered bridges are not an American invention. They date back to the 11th century in Europe. A covered bridge in Luzern, Switzerland, the "Chapel Bridge" (in English) was built in 1313. Nearly destroyed by a 1993 fire, most of what stands is a reproduction.

The first covered bridge in the United States is credited to Timothy Palmer, a resident of Newburyport, Massachusetts. The bridge was built in 1805 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Cornish-Windsor covered bridge in Windsor is the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States (465 feet). It is New Hampshire inventory.