Van Veghten's Bridge is a bridge spanning the

Raritan River Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. History Geologists assert that the lower Raritan provided t ...

in Somerset County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, connecting the Finderne section of Bridgewater with Manville. The bridge carries four lanes of Somerset County Route 533 across the river and the flood plain. In Manville the roadway is called North Main Street. In Bridgewater, it becomes Finderne Avenue.

Background

The first bridge at this site, known as Van Veghten's after the land owner, Van Veghten, was built in the early 18th century, perhaps as early as 1733. It was later rebuilt in 1774. It was noted in several events during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. On October 26, 1779, British Lieut. Col.

John Graves Simcoe John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded Yor ...

led a group of the

Queen's Rangers The Queen's Rangers, also known as the Queen's American Rangers, and later Simcoe's Rangers, were a Loyalist military unit of the American Revolutionary War. Formed in 1776, they were named for Queen Charlotte, consort of George III. The Queen ...

and destroyed eighteen boats on the Raritan River at this site that were intended for use by the American General

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

. On August 30–31, 1781, the French Army under command of the French general

Comte de Rochambeau Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, 1 July 1725 – 10 May 1807, was a French nobleman and general whose army played the decisive role in helping the United States defeat the British army at Yorktown in 1781 during the ...

, marched over the bridge, along the route to

Yorktown, Virginia Yorktown is a census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Virginia. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682. Yorktown's population was 195 as of the 2010 census, while York Co ...

History

The current bridge was first built in 1896 using stone arches and a

Pratt through truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

for the main span. In 1934, the through truss was removed and replaced with a stringer bridge.

References

External links

Van Veghten's Bridge
Bridges in Somerset County, New Jersey Bridges over the Raritan River Bridges completed in 1896 Bridges completed in 1914 Bridges completed in 2007 Road bridges in New Jersey {{NewJersey-bridge-struct-stub

Background

History

See also

References

External links