A Bit of History on a Hot Summer Day

With activities limited, we have done a lot of online research looking for things to do in our area. On our state website I came across information regarding covered bridges in New Hampshire. I knew we could not see all of them in one day, but this past weekend we took the better part of Saturday to find as many as we could in the Dartmouth-Mount Sunapee area.

We chose to drive over the back roads to find these treasures, some hidden and others not. The country roads meandered through dense lush trees, past hills overlooking mountains, and up mountain roads. The views along the way were breathtaking and made us forget about the everyday stresses of life. At times it made me wonder what life was like before all these country roads were paved.

Below I have shared photos and a bit of information on the bridges we did see on our journey. We attempted to see the Blow Me Down Bridge in Cornish, NH, but this covered bridge never appeared. Unfortunately, the area the GPS directed us to did not arrive at a covered bridge but did offer beautiful countryside views.

There were several others in this region that we did not have time to see: Keniston Bridge and Cilleyville/Bog Bridge in Andover, Bement Bridge in Bradford, Wright's Bridge and Pier Bridge in Newport, Edgell Bridge in Orford, Blacksmith Bridge in Cornish, Prentiss/Drewsville Bridge in Langdon, and the McDermott/Cold River Bridge in Alstead.

Hopefully, we will be able to plan another day to take in the ones we missed in the Dartmouth-Mount Sunapee area. At some point it would be great if we could take time to see all the covered bridges in New Hampshire.







Contoocook Railroad Bridge was built in 1889 and is the oldest surviving covered railroad bridge.

Dalton/Joppa Road Bridge - Warner, NH
Dalton/Joppa Road Bridge - Warner, NH: Built in 1853 and is one of the oldest standing covered bridges in use today. It was rebuilt in 1963-1964, and is a long truss with auxiliary Queenpost system - 76 feet long.



Waterloo Bridge - Warner, NH: Built in 1840 and completely rebuilt in 1857, and a second time in 1970. Town lattice truss - 76 feet long.



Packard Hill Bridge - Lebanon, NH: Built between 1780 and 1790 as an open timber bridge. It was rebuilt in 1878 as a Howe truss covered bridge, and then replaced in 1952 with a Bailey Bridge (replaced in 1991 by the current bridge) . Howe truss - 76 feet long.



Meriden/Mill Bridge - Plainfield, NH: Built in 1880 it is a two-span multiple kingpost truss - 80 feet long.


Cornish-Windsor Bridge - Cornish, NH (Windsor, VT): The most prominent of all of Vermont's and New Hampshire's covered bridges. Built in1866 it is the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States, and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world. Two spans supported by Town lattice trusses - 450 feet long. Three earlier bridges were at this spot - the first one built in 1796; all destroyed by floods.



Dingleton Bridge - Cornish, NH: Built in 1882 it is a one-span multiple kingpost truss - 76 feet long.

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