The Cilley Covered Bridge is a historic 19th-century
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 ...
, carrying Howe Lane across the First Branch
White River a short way south of the village of
Tunbridge, Vermont
Tunbridge is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the town population was 1,337. The town consists of three village centers, all situated on Vermont Route 110 in the valley of the first branch of ...
. Built in 1883, it is a fine example of a
king-post truss structure, and is one of the town's five 19th-century covered bridges. It 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 ...
in 1974.
Description and history
The Cilley Covered Bridge stands in a rural area about south of the central village of Tunbridge. It carries Howe Lane, a side loop off
Vermont Route 110
Vermont Route 110 (VT 110) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Vermont. The highway runs from VT 14 in Royalton in northern Windsor County north to U.S. Route 302 (US 302) in the town of Barre in central Washington Count ...
, across the First Branch White River. It is a single-span king-post truss structure, long and wide, with a road bed wide (one lane). The bridge is set on
abutments
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 ...
of stone, one of which has been faced in concrete, and is covered in vertical board siding and a metal roof. The south side of the bridge has two square window holes, which improve visibility due to a sharp turn in the road at one end. The trusses are set at a skew, giving the bridge the shape of a
parallelogram
In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a simple (non- self-intersecting) quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equa ...
. The portals are square, and the exterior sheathing extends around to the ends of the trusses on the interior.
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The bridge was built in 1883, and has been little altered since then. It is one of six bridges in a stretch of the First Branch White River, representing one of the highest concentrations of covered bridges in the state.
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See also
*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 ...
*
*
References
External links
{{NRHP in Orange County, Vermont
Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Vermont
Bridges completed in 1883
Covered bridges in Orange County, Vermont
Buildings and structures in Tunbridge, Vermont
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Wooden bridges in Vermont
King post truss bridges in the United States
1883 establishments in Vermont