The Kidder Covered Bridge carries Kidder Hill Road across the South Branch
Saxtons River
The Saxtons River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Vermont, a tributary of the Connecticut River. Its watershed covers and a ...
, just south of the village center of
Grafton, Vermont
Grafton is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 645 at the 2020 census.
History
In the early 19th century, sheep raising became popular and multiple woolen mills sprang up along the branches of the Saxtons River. ...
. The bridge was built about 1870, and is Grafton's last surviving 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 ...
. It is the shortest historic covered bridge in
Windham County, and 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 1973.
Description and history
The Kidder Covered Bridge is located about south of the center of
Grafton Village, on Kidder Hill Road. It is a single-span
queenspost truss structure, with a total length of and a total width of , with a roadway wide. 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 of stone that have been reinforced with concrete. The bridge is oriented at a skew to the river bed, with its trusses forming 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 ...
, 15° off rectangular. The exterior of the trusses is sheathed in vertical board siding, and it is covered by a metal roof. The siding is extended to the portals and gables, and a short way into the portal.
The original covered bridge was constructed circa 1870, and was the town's last 19th-century bridge until it was rebuilt in 1995. It is the county's only example of a queenspost truss bridge, and is one of a handful of covered bridges in the state built with a skew.
[
The bridge was replaced with a new wooden (covered) structure in April 1995.
]
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
{{NRHP in Windham County, Vermont
Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Bridges completed in 1870
Buildings and structures in Grafton, Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Windham County, Vermont
Historic district contributing properties in Vermont
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Wooden bridges in Vermont
Queen post truss bridges in the United States
1870 establishments in Vermont