The Bell Covered Bridge is a historic 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 rural Washington County,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. One of several such bridges in the region built by the same man, it remained open to traffic with the exception of periodic repairs, until it was permanently closed on September 12, 2022, and it has been named a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

. Located near the community of Barlow in Barlow Township, the bridge carries the gravel Bell Road over Falls Creek,Arnold, Nancy, and Jason Arnold.
National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Bell Covered Bridge
'.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

, n.d. Accessed 2014-02-21. a southwestern tributary of Wolf Creek. Surrounded by woods,Moore, Elma Lee. ''Ohios Covered Bridges''. Charleston:

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

, 2010, 118. the bridge lies adjacent to the farm once owned by the namesake Bell family, and the surrounding countryside is a mixture of forests and agricultural fields. The builder was E.B. Henderson, who was responsible for four bridges in the area: the Blackwood Covered Bridge (1879), the Shinn Covered Bridge (1886), the Bell Covered Bridge (1888), and the Henry Covered Bridge (1894). Like two of the other three, the Bell is a multiple king post truss design, which became popular nationwide following its use on the

National Road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

in a past version of the Y-bridge in

Zanesville Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capit ...

to the north. An ordinary

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

-roofed bridge with windows just below the

roofline Roofline is used to describe the fascia, soffits, bargeboards, antefixes and cladding that forms the frontage immediately below the roof and the eaves of many homes and buildings. These are traditionally made from wood, but can be made of ...

, the bridge spans ; the deck is approximately wide, with of interior width, and the height permits slightly more than of interior clearance. It rests on

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 ...

s built of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, quarried locally, while the roof is made of

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

. The abutments are similar, with their faces underlying the bridge decks and wing walls to the side. Officials twice closed the bridge for extensive repairs: structural problems prompted a 1998 closure, during which stones in the abutment were replaced, the truss system solidified, and missing or damaged components replaced with identical newly produced components, and a 2005 closure to fix damage caused by

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...

s. With those exceptions, the bridge remained open continuously since its construction through September 12, 2022. On September 12, 2022, the bridge was permanently closed and a bypass was built by contractors under the direction of Washington County officials. The bypass opened on November 14, 2022. In late 2012, the Bell Covered Bridge 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 ...

, qualifying as a historically significant example of local engineering. It is one of seven covered bridges on the National Register in Washington County, along with Henderson's Shinn Bridge and the Harra, Hildreth, Hune, Rinard, and

Root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

Bridges.

References

External links

{{NRHP in Washington County, Ohio Bridges completed in 1888 Bridges in Washington County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Ohio Tourist attractions in Washington County, Ohio Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Wooden bridges in Ohio 1888 establishments in Ohio