The Grist Mill Bridge is a historic bridge in
Lebanon, Maine
Lebanon is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 6,469 at the 2020 census. Lebanon includes the villages of Center Lebanon, West Lebanon, North Lebanon, South Lebanon and East Lebanon. It is the westernmost town in Ma ...
, carrying Little River Road across the
Little River
Little River may refer to several places:
Australia Streams New South Wales
*Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River
*Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Hawk ...
. Although the bridge has a 20th-century wooden deck on rubblestone abutments and pier, it is functionally similar to the bridge's original deck, which was also a wooden structure that may have existed as early as 1774. The 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 v ...
as a rare example of a bridge in the state with some essential 18th-century elements intact.
Description and history
The Grist Mill Bridge is located in a rural part of far eastern Lebanon. The Little River Road runs generally southward, roughly following the course of the eponymous river as it makes its way south to the
Salmon Falls River
The Salmon Falls River is a tributary of the Piscataqua River in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire. It rises at Great East Lake, Newichawannock Canal, and Horn Pond and flows south-southeast for approximately , forming the border between ...
in
Berwick. A short way south of the Lebanon-North Berwick Baptist Church, the road crosses the river at a point where it makes an S-shaped bend to the west. Just downstream (west) of the bridge stands the
Old Grist Mill, which was built in 1774. Documents describing this mill indicate that a bridge was already standing at this location when it was built. State records of the bridge include photographic evidence from 1924, and records noting replacement of its deck in 1885. Documentary references to bridges at or near this location were also made in 1792 and 1822, but none of the documentation predating 1885 is conclusively connected to the present structure. The stonework of the bridge supports bears some resemblance to that of the mill foundation and what remains of its dam.
The bridge's oldest features are its abutments and single pier, all of which are dry laid rubblestone. These elements place the wooden bridge deck about above typical water level. The southern abutment includes a wing wall that extends for some as a base and retaining wall for the roadway. The bridge deck is long and about wide.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Bridges completed in 1885
Transportation buildings and structures in York County, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in York County, Maine
Wooden bridges in the United States