List of covered bridges in West Virginia
This is a list of West Virginia covered bridges. There are 17 historic wooden covered bridges in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Only three of these bridges were built before 1870 and they are the three longest in the state. Each uses a standard truss design, braced with the Burr Arch. No one-truss design dominates in the state. The bridges are located in three general areas. In the south in Monroe and Greenbrier counties there are about a half dozen bridges within an easy drive of one another. To the north around Philippi is another group of bridges, including the historic Philippi Covered Bridge which is the longest (285 feet (87 m)) and an important part of state history for its associations with the American Civil War.[1]
Existing bridges
The following is a list of the 17 extant West Virginia covered bridges.
Name[1] | Image | Location [1][A] |
Year Built[1] | Design, Length and Historical Notes[B] |
---|---|---|---|---|
Barrackville Covered Bridge | Barrackville, Marion County | 1853 | Burr Arch, 146 feet (45 m) long over Buffalo Creek. Built by Chenoweth. | Multiple King Post,|
Carrollton Covered Bridge | Carrollton, Barbour County | 1856 | Burr Arch, 141 feet (43 m) long over Buckhannon River | Multiple King Post,|
Center Point Covered Bridge | Center Point, Doddridge County | 1888 | Long Truss, 42 feet (13 m) long over Pike Fork of McElroy Creek | |
Dents Run Covered Bridge | Laurel Point, Monongalia County | 1889 | King Post, 40 feet (12 m) long over Dents Run | |
Fish Creek Covered Bridge | Hundred, Wetzel County | 1881 | King Post, 30 feet (9.1 m) long over Fish Creek | |
Fletcher Covered Bridge aka "Ten Mile Creek Covered Bridge" | Harrison County | Cutler,1891 | King Post, 58 feet (18 m) long over Tenmile Creek | Multiple|
Herns Mill Covered Bridge aka "Milligan Creek Covered Bridge" | Asbury, Greenbrier County | 1884 | Queen post, 54 feet (16 m) long over Milligans Creek | |
Hokes Mill Covered Bridge aka "Second Creek Covered Bridge" | Hokes Mill, Greenbrier County | 1899 | Long Truss, 82 feet (25 m) long over Second Creek | |
Indian Creek Covered Bridge | Union, Monroe County | 1903 | Long Truss, 48 feet (15 m) long over Indian Creek | |
Laurel Creek Covered Bridge aka "Lily Dale Covered Bridge" | Lillydale, Monroe County | 1911 | Howe Truss, 22 feet (6.7 m) long over Laurel Creek | |
Locust Creek Covered Bridge | Hillsboro, Pocahontas County | 1870 | Warren Truss, 113 feet (34 m) long over Monroe Creek | |
Mud River Covered Bridge | Milton, Cabell County | 1876 | Howe Truss, 108 feet (33 m) long over Mud River | |
Philippi Covered Bridge | Philippi, Barbour County | 1852 | Long Truss with Burr Arch, 285 feet (87 m) long over Tygart Valley River. Built by Chenoweth. | |
Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge aka "Sandy Creek Covered Bridge" | Sandyville, Jackson County | 1889 | Long Truss, 101 feet (31 m) long over Left Fork Sandy Creek | |
Simpson Creek Covered Bridge aka "Hollens Mill Covered Bridge" | Bridgeport, Harrison County | 1881 | King Post, 74 feet (23 m) long over Simpson Creek | Multiple|
Staats Mill Covered Bridge | Ripley, Jackson County | 1887 | Long Truss, 97 feet (30 m). Originally over Tug Fork, Big Mill Creek. | |
Walkersville Covered Bridge | Walkersville, Lewis County | 1908 | Queen post, 54 feet (16 m) long over Right Fork of West Fork River | |
Former bridges
The following is a list of no longer extant West Virginia covered bridges. A complete list of covered bridges that have existed at one time or another in the state would exceed 100.[2]
- This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Barbour County
- Audra Covered Bridge, 18??, Audra (Burnt, 1940s)
Randolph County
- Beverly Covered Bridge, 1847, Chenoweth's first bridge (destroyed).
- Cheat Bridge Covered Bridge, 18??, across Cheat River at Cheat Bridge[3]
Randolph/Upshur Counties
- Middle Fork Covered Bridge, 18??, across Middle Fork River spanning county border (Chenoweth; destroyed).
Marion County
- Paw Paw Creek Covered Bridge, 18??, Grant Town (Destroyed in flood, August 1980)
Upshur County
- Buckhannon Covered Bridge, 18?? (Chenoweth; destroyed).
Doddridge County
- West Union Covered Bridge, 1843 across Middle Island Creek (Destroyed in flood, June 1950).
Lewis County
- Weston Covered Bridge, 18??, across Stonecoal Creek, (Chenoweth; destroyed).
Braxton County
- Bulltown Covered Bridge, 1854[4]
Harrison County
- Maulsby Covered Bridge, 1848, across West Fork River (part of Weston and Fairmont Turnpike Company)[5]
Monongalia County
- Wadestown Covered Bridge, 18??, across the West Virginia branch of Dunkard Creek.
References
- 1 2 3 4 West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme Publishing; 3rd edition (2003), pg 13
- ↑ Shaluta, Jr., Stephen J. (2004), Covered Bridges in West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia: Quarrier Press.
- ↑ The original "Cheat Bridge" was built before the American Civil War. After the Battle of Greenbrier River (3 October 1861), Union troops used the bridge when they built extensive military defenses at nearby Cheat Summit. Over 40 years later, celebrated satirist and short story writer Ambrose Bierce revisited the site of his youthful service. He found that “…the old wooden covered bridge across the Cheat River looks hardly a day older, and is still elaborately decorated with soldiers’ names carven with jack-knives.” (Letter, Ambrose Bierce to Alexander Whitehall, 30 September 1904. Published in Ninth Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association: Proceedings of the 18th Annual Reunion (N.p., 1904), pp 13-18. Reprinted as “Battlefields and Ghosts” (Palo Alto, California: Harvest Press, 1931) and in Joshi, S.T. and David E. Schultz, eds. (1998), Ambrose Bierce, A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography; Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, pp 3-6.)
- ↑ Cook, Roy Bird: "The Battle of Bulltown" "The West Virginia Review: June 1933:254-56 found in WV Archives and History at wvculture.org, Replaced with steel bridge (my personal witness we drove over it from Burnsville to Bulltown) which was destroyed by Army Engineers when the Burnsville Dam was built between summer of 1972-September 1976. See Wikipedia: Burnsville Lake with source given as Department of Army.
- ↑ The longest covered bridge ever existing in Harrison County (300 feet).
Notes
- A Sorting this column will result in bridges being listed in order by county. *B Sorting this column will result in bridges being listed in order by their length.