Van Tran Flat Bridge, also known as the The Motts Flats Bridge and The Livingston Manor 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 ...

that crosses

Willowemoc Creek Willowemoc Creek is a tributary of Beaver Kill. It is a popular trout fishing stream near the Catskill Park in Sullivan County, New York.Francis, Austin M. , ''Catskill Rivers: Birthplace of American Fly Fishing,'' Nick Lyons Press (1983) Ch. 9. ...

in the town of Rockland, in

Sullivan County, New York Sullivan County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,624. The county seat is Monticello. The county's name honors Major General John Sullivan, who was labeled at the time as a hero in the Am ...

. The bridge was built in 1860 by John Davidson and features a

Town lattice truss A lattice bridge is a form of truss bridge that uses many small, closely spaced diagonal elements forming a latticework, lattice. The lattice Truss Bridge was patented in 1820 by architect Ithiel Town. Originally a design to allow a substantial br ...

and a laminated arch system. The bridge was abandoned in 1972 and restored in 1984. The bridge is 103 feet long and leads to Livingston Manor Covered Bridge County Park.

History

The Van Tran Flat Bridge (originally named The Motts Flats Bridge and later referred to as The Livingston Manor Covered Bridge) was first constructed in 1860 by John Davidson to cross the Willowemoc Creek located in the town of Rockland, in Sullivan County, New York. The original bridge was and featured a town lattice truss. The bridge was constructed from timber and followed a similar design to other bridges in the Catskill region. The Van Tran Flat Bridge was constructed 5 years before the Beaverkill Covered Bridge, also built by John Davidson; thus making The Van Tran Flat Bridge the oldest of the 4 covered bridge in Sullivan County. Sometime after 1958, the original dry-laid stone

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 ...

were refaced with concrete. In 1972, the bridge was closed and formally abandoned. In 1984, the Sullivan County’s Department of Public Works alongside Milton S. Graton began restoring the bridge. The restoration project involved the use of original construction techniques and required replacing the

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

, chords, floor, roof, and treenails. Furthermore, the original

Queenpost truss A queen post is a tension member in a truss that can span longer openings than a king post truss. A king post uses one central supporting post, whereas the queen post truss uses two. Even though it is a tension member, rather than a compression me ...

was removed, additional laminated arches were added for support, and the total length of the bridge was reduced to . In November 1985, the bridge was reopened.

Associated Locations

John Mott Homestead

Located on the road adjacent to the bridge is the original homestead of Dr. John Mott, Noble Peace Prize laureate and a founding member of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

. The original name 'The Motts Flats Bridge' came from its association with the Mott family who owned the surrounding land.

Livingston Manor Covered Bridge County Park

Adjacent to the Van Tran Flat Bridge is The Livingston Manor Covered Bridge Park, a park named after the bridge.

References

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External links