Enfield-Suffield Covered Bridge

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Enfield - Suffield Covered Bridge
Enfield - Suffield Covered Bridge
Carries Bridge Lane (Enfield, Connecticut) to Bridge Street (Suffield, Connecticut)
Crosses Connecticut River
Locale Enfield, Connecticut to Suffield, Connecticut
Design wood covered bridge
Beginning date of construction 1821
Completion date 1832
Destruction date February 14, 1900[1]
Coordinates 41°58′30.34″N 72°36′22.31″W / 41.9750944, -72.6061972 (Enfield-Suffield Covered Bridge)Coordinates: 41°58′30.34″N 72°36′22.31″W / 41.9750944, -72.6061972 (Enfield-Suffield Covered Bridge)

The Enfield-Suffield Covered Bridge was a wooden covered bridge over the Connecticut River located between Enfield, Connecticut and Suffield, Connecticut. This bridge connected Bridge Lane on the Enfield (east) side of the river with the west side of the river, where Bridge Street met it. There is now a parallel row of trees on this west side of the river where the street once ran.

[edit] History

Half of this bridge was destroyed in a flood on 2 February 1900. Hosea Keach, agent for the railroad at Bridge Lane Station, which was at the entrance to the bridge, was on the bridge when it collapsed. He rode the span down the river, and climbed to the roof, where he was seen by two railroad employees at the Warehouse Point bridge, Arthur Blodgett and R. A. Abbe. They lowered a rope from the railroad bridge as he passed below, rescuing him.[1]
Bridge both before and after it was torn apart by the flood

The remains of the bridge were purchased by Southern New England Telephone, which blew up the remaining part of the bridge and used the piers for carrying telephone wires across the river.[2]

All that remains of this bridge at this time are submerged piers in the river. These are partially overgrown with vegetation.[3]

[edit] See Also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Enfield Historical Society
  2. ^ Whittlesey, Charles W. (1938). Crossing and Re-Crossing the Connecticut River. New Haven, Connecticut: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, p.50. 
  3. ^ See satellite photography using the coordinates, above.