Bedell Covered Bridge

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Bedell Bridge
Bedell Bridge
Carries air
Crosses Connecticut River
Locale Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, New Hampshire
Design burr truss covered bridge[1]
Total length 396 ft (121 m)
Completion date 1805, 1823, ?, 1866, 1978
Opening date July 22, 1979
Destruction date 1823, 1841, 1862 July 4, 1866 September 14, 1979
Coordinates 44°02′43″N 72°04′27″W / 44.04528, -72.07417 (Bedell Bridge)
Bedell Covered Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Bedell Covered Bridge (New Hampshire)
Bedell Covered Bridge
Nearest city: Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, New Hampshire
Coordinates: 44°2′43″N 72°04′27″W / 44.04528, -72.07417Coordinates: 44°2′43″N 72°04′27″W / 44.04528, -72.07417
Architectural style(s): Burr truss covered bridge
Added to NRHP: May 28, 1975[2]
NRHP Reference#: 75002171
Governing body: Haverhill, New Hampshire

The Bedell Bridge was a burr truss covered bridge that spanned the Connecticut River between Newbury, Vermont and Haverhill, New Hampshire. Until its most recent destruction in 1979, it was the second longest covered bridge in the United States.

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[edit] History

So far, there have been five bridges on this site. The first was built in 1805 and heavily damaged in 1823. Quickly rebuilt that year, it was washed away in 1841. A third bridge was carried away by a spring flood in 1862. The fourth bridge was destroyed in a storm on July 4, 1866. The final bridge, so far, was built that same year. It was in service for over a hundred years until it was closed to traffic in 1968. It was scheduled for demolition in 1973 due to heavy damage that year.

A Save the Bedell Bridge Committee raised $250,000 to rebuild the bridge, which was completed by 1978 with the associated Bedell Bridge State Park. The bridge was rededicated on July 22, 1979 only to be blown away again by a windstorm on September 14, 1979. The state park, as well as the abutments and a pier in the river, are all that remains.

[edit] Image gallery

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Delany, Edmund Thomas (1983). The Connecticut River: New England's Historic Waterway. The Globe Pequot Press, p.131. ISBN 978-0871069801. 

[edit] External links