Covered Bridges With Pictures

My wife Diane and I spent a beautiful fall day on Saturday and traveled the state in search of covered bridges. We found that Ashtubula County has 15 covered bridges mostly all restored! So we travel the dusty country roads in search of....
Most of these bridge are all in use here . With one that is 75 yards long. The fall foliage is just beginning to color here. We had a great time. Anyone else have pictures of these pieces of Americana?

 

All very cool but that last one is awesome! Nice shots.

 

Now that looks like a fun day. Cool.

 

Very cool , and look awwsome, but dumb question, why would they cover bridges ??

 

Hey, those are nice pics, you are lucky to have those bridges close by, neat pieces of history. Nice coupe too!.
My thots on why they were covered, was to keep the snow/ice off of em in winter, and keep the bridge decks in better shape year round. Any other thots on this?

 

Early bridges were made of wood, especially where it was a plentiful resource. Wooden bridges tended to deteriorate rapidly from exposure to the elements, having a useful lifespan of only nine years. Covering them protected their structural members, thus extending their life to 80 years or more. Covered bridges were also constructed to be used by travelers during storms and inclement weather.
Most wooden covered bridges employ trusses as their key structural design element. A popular design was the Brown truss, known for its simplicity, but others were also used.
Given the ready availability of steel, concrete, and other modern construction materials, most modern covered bridges are built either for the convenience of the user, rather than to protect the structure itself, or as a statement of style or design.
From the wikipedia

 

Did ya come across Meryl or Clint in your travels?

 

Were they in Madison county? That is a good movie BTW.

 

the little town that i grew up near was supposed to have had the longest covered bridge in the world (butler ky) http://www.rootsweb.com/~kypendle/butlerbridge.htm
...its cool still see them around....there is one on rt1 in southern indiana.....on the way to indy..... brandon

 

http://www.town.hartland.nb.ca/
this was a nice bridge to drive on back when it is also the worlds longest covered bridge lol

 

So how long is the bridge?

 

it was 450ish feet long ....it was replaced way back when with a steel bridge.... brandon

 

What a great way to spend a fall afternoon, I envy you. We don't have any covered bridges up in this neck of the woods, however here's one we found outside of McMinnville , Oregon, while on vacation last year. Supposed to be the oldest covered bridge in Oregon. Was restored by the family whose property it is on. Maybe some HAMB'ers from the area can shed some light on this.

 

Nice pics guys. Thanks for sharing. Now you are making me want to trek to Brown County just south of here. There are over 20 of these gems within a few miles.

 

Petejoe,

Garvinzoom is right that last photo is outstanding, take that photo get it enlarged and frame it. Great shot...................

Cruiser

 

My wife and I did the covered bridge thing with the bridges south of Indy a couple years ago. Spent the weekend. They were having a covered bridge festival or something that weekend. It was a pretty cool weekend. Gene

 

When returning from the Talldega Superspeedway to my brother's
house in Birmingham this weekend I noticed signs indicating 2 covered bridges in the area. Didn't have time to investigate.

 

oh man, youre making me miss (some parts) of Pennsylvania! i know of about 5 or 6 covered bridges in my hometown area. you know youre supposed you kiss your girl as you drive thru one of those right??!!

 

Here you go Josh7652, A Berks county bridge in Yellow House Pa.

 

Yes!!! They call them "kissing bridges"
I kissed my girl at all 11 bridges!
What a fun time. We never take the time to just spend the day and take the roads less traveled.
I have a few more to show later. Anyone else have any pictures??
ANyone interested in doing these type of tours??
Most states have websites for locations.
Here's Ohio's website we followed.
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/se/coveredbridges/





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I dig the covered bridges.

 

Covered bridges look very cool with old cars crossing them. Sounds like a great day.

Heres one in central PA.

 

RE:Oregon covered bridge.
It is located near Lincoln City, Oregon. It was moved and restored by the Sweitz family, maybe with help from the local historical society, and Lincoln County.
http://www.oregon.com/covered_bridges/bridges/bear_creek.cfm

 

Several years ago we went down to Brown County, IN, and spent a week at the Brown Co. State Park. North and west of Bloomington, I forget the county, are dozens of covered bridges. Spent (what turned out to be a VERY long day on a Panhead!) touring this area going from bridge to bridge. In the fall there's a "Bridge Festival", and by all reports, the whole area is PACKED with tourists, pretty much becomes gridlock. Or, bridgelock . We were a week or two ahead of that, so it was great.

BTW, Brown Co is beautiful, a great place to vacation with a motorsickle. Or a roadster, since we no longer have the Pan. Go to Story, IN, just outsdide the state park, near Nashville, for dinner and hanging out. It's a biker destination restraunt/bar. The entire town of Story was bought by an individual and is run as an Inn. Neat. 3 star dining in the general store, shown in the last photo.

 

this is in greene county ohio outside of xenia.i believe there are 5 or 6 covered bridges left in the area

 

Dig the covered bridge pics.

 

So very nice, there are none of those around here that I know of and if they were some idiot would cover them with grafitti. Thanks folks for a bit of Friday morning visual pleasure.

 

I proposed to my wife in this one 35 years ago... Elkrun twp, OH