![Bartonsville covered bridge 10-25-2013 10-40-28 AM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Bartonsville_covered_bridge_10-25-2013_10-40-28_AM.JPG)
The Bartonsville Covered Bridge is a wooden
covered bridge
A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...
in the village of Bartonsville, in
Rockingham, Vermont
Rockingham is a Town in Windham County, on the southeastern Vermont border in the United States, along the Connecticut River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,832. Rockingham includes the incorporated villages of Bellows Falls and Sa ...
, United States. The bridge is a
lattice truss
A lattice bridge is a form of truss bridge that uses many small, closely spaced diagonal elements forming a lattice. The lattice Truss Bridge was patented in 1820 by architect Ithiel Town.
Originally a design to allow a substantial bridge to be ma ...
style with a 151-foot span, carrying Lower Bartonsville Road over the
Williams River. It was built in 2012, replacing a similar bridge built in 1870 by Sanford Granger. The 1870 bridge, which was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
, was destroyed in 2011 in flooding caused by
Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...
.
History
The bridge was built after the great flood of 1869 that changed the course of the river, replacing another covered bridge about 1/4 mile up the road where the river used to flow. The bridge is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
It was located on Lower Bartonsville Road, a paved road a short distance north from
Vermont Route 103
Vermont Route 103 (VT 103) is a north–south state highway in southern Vermont, United States. It runs from U.S. Route 5 (US 5) in Rockingham in the east to US 7 in Clarendon near Rutland in the west. The Vermont Country Store's second branc ...
. Nearby, to the east, is the
Worrall Covered Bridge
The Worrall Covered Bridge, also known as the Woralls Bridge is a wooden covered bridge carrying Williams Road across the Williams River in Rockingham, Vermont, United States. Built about 1870, it is the only surviving 19th-century covered bridg ...
, also built by Granger.
In the 1960s, a Town of Rockingham gravel truck fell through the bridge cutting off cars from Lower Bartonsville Village from the direct link to Vermont Route 103 until the floor was replaced. In the early 1980s extensive renovations were conducted on the bridge, including replacing the
abutment
An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...
on the north side of the bridge, reinforcing the original stone abutments on the south side of the bridge, and replacing the roof and the weathered siding.
Destruction by Hurricane Irene and replacement
On August 28, 2011, the bridge was destroyed by flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall from
Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...
's landfall on the U.S. East Coast. An effort to
rebuild the structure was supported by town officials, who voted to use the bridge's insurance money to build another covered bridge.
The new bridge was opened on January 26, 2013.
[Melissa Sheketoff, WCAX-TV]
Historic Bridge Back Open
, January 26, 2013
See also
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List of Vermont covered bridges
Below is a list of covered bridges in Vermont. There are just over 100 authentic covered bridges in the U.S. state of Vermont, giving the state the highest number of covered bridges per square mile in the United States. A covered bridge is conside ...
*
Old Blenheim Bridge
Old Blenheim Bridge was a wooden covered bridge that spanned Schoharie Creek in North Blenheim, New York, United States. With an open span of , it had the second longest span of any surviving single-span covered bridge in the world. The 1862 B ...
, a covered bridge in upstate New York, also destroyed by Tropical Storm Irene; rebuilt in 2017
References
{{NRHP in Windham County, Vermont
Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Covered bridges in Windham County, Vermont
Buildings and structures in Rockingham, Vermont
Bridge disasters in the United States
Bridges completed in 1871
Bridges completed in 2012
Wooden bridges in Vermont
Former road bridges in the United States
Transportation disasters in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Windham County, Vermont
Buildings and structures demolished in 2011
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Rebuilt buildings and structures in the United States
Lattice truss bridges in the United States
1871 establishments in Vermont
Buildings and structures destroyed by flooding