List of West Virginia covered bridges

Barrackville Covered Bridge

This is a list of West Virginia covered bridges. There are 17 historic wooden covered bridges in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Only three of these bridges were built before 1870 and they are the three longest in the state. Each uses a standard truss design, braced with the Burr Arch. No one-truss design dominates in the state. The bridges are located in three general areas. In the south in Monroe and Greenbrier counties there are about a half dozen bridges within an easy drive of one another. To the north around Philippi is another group of bridges, including the historic Philippi Covered Bridge which is the longest (285 feet (87 m)) and an important part of state history for its associations with the American Civil War.[1]

Existing bridges

The following is a list of the 17 extant West Virginia covered bridges.

Name[1] Image Location
[1][A]		 Year Built[1] Design, Length and
Historical Notes[B]
Barrackville Covered Bridge Barracksville, Marion County 1853 Multiple King Post, Burr Arch, 146 feet (45 m) long over Buffalo Creek. Built by Chenoweth.
Carrollton Covered Bridge Carrollton, Barbour County 1856 Multiple King Post, Burr Arch, 141 feet (43 m) long over Buckhannon River
Center Point Covered Bridge Center Point, Doddridge County 1888 Long Truss, 42 feet (13 m) long over Pike Fork of McElroy Creek
Dents Run Covered Bridge Laurel Point, Monongalia County 1889 King Post, 40 feet (12 m) long over Dents Run
Fish Creek Covered Bridge Hundred, Wetzel County 1881 King Post, 30 feet (9.1 m) long over Fish Creek
Fletcher Covered Bridge aka "Ten Mile Creek Covered Bridge" Cutler, Harrison County 1891 Multiple King Post, 58 feet (18 m) long over Tenmile Creek
Herns Mill Covered Bridge aka "Milligan Creek Covered Bridge" Asbury, Greenbrier County 1884 Queen post, 54 feet (16 m) long over Milligans Creek
Hokes Mill Covered Bridge aka "Second Creek Covered Bridge" Hokes Mill, Greenbrier County 1899 Long Truss, 82 feet (25 m) long over Second Creek
Indian Creek Covered Bridge Union, Monroe County 1903 Long Truss, 48 feet (15 m) long over Indian Creek
Laurel Creek Covered Bridge aka "Lily Dale Covered Bridge" Lillydale, Monroe County 1911 Howe Truss, 22 feet (6.7 m) long over Laurel Creek
Locust Creek Covered Bridge Hillsboro, Pocahontas County 1870 Warren Truss, 113 feet (34 m) long over Monroe Creek
Mud River Covered Bridge Milton, Cabell County 1876 Howe Truss, 108 feet (33 m) long over Mud River
Philippi Covered Bridge Philippi, Barbour County 1852 Long Truss with Burr Arch, 285 feet (87 m) long over Tygart Valley River. Built by Chenoweth.
Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge aka "Sandy Creek Covered Bridge" Sandyville, Jackson County 1889 Long Truss, 101 feet (31 m) long over Left Fork Sandy Creek
Simpson Creek Covered Bridge aka "Hollens Mill Covered Bridge" Bridgeport, Harrison County 1881 Multiple King Post, 74 feet (23 m) long over Simpson Creek
Staats Mill Covered Bridge Ripley, Jackson County 1887 Long Truss, 97 feet (30 m). Originally over Tug Fork, Big Mill Creek.
Walkersville Covered Bridge Walkersville, Lewis County 1908 Queen post, 54 feet (16 m) long over Right Fork of West Fork River

Former bridges

The following is a list of no longer extant West Virginia covered bridges. A complete list of covered bridges that have existed at one time or another in the state would exceed 100.[2]

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Barbour County

Randolph County

Marion County

??? County

Upshur County

Doddridge County

Lewis County

Braxton County

Harrison County

Monongalia County

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme Publishing; 3rd edition (2003), pg 13
  2. ↑ Shaluta, Jr., Stephen J. (2004), Covered Bridges in West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia: Quarrier Press.
  3. ↑ The original "Cheat Bridge" was built before the American Civil War. After the Battle of Greenbrier River (3 October 1861), Union troops used the bridge when they built extensive military defenses at nearby Cheat Summit. Over 40 years later, celebrated satirist and short story writer Ambrose Bierce revisited the site of his youthful service. He found that “…the old wooden covered bridge across the Cheat River looks hardly a day older, and is still elaborately decorated with soldiers’ names carven with jack-knives.” (Letter, Ambrose Bierce to Alexander Whitehall, 30 September 1904. Published in Ninth Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association: Proceedings of the 18th Annual Reunion (N.p., 1904), pp 13-18. Reprinted as “Battlefields and Ghosts” (Palo Alto, California: Harvest Press, 1931) and in Joshi, S.T. and David E. Schultz, eds. (1998), Ambrose Bierce, A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography; Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, pp 3-6.)
  4. ↑ Cook, Roy Bird: "The Battle of Bulltown" "The West Virginia Review: June 1933:254-56 found in WV Archives and History at wvculture.org, Replaced with steel bridge (my personal witness we drove over it from Burnsville to Bulltown) which was destroyed by Army Engineers when the Burnsville Dam was built between summer of 1972-September 1976. See Wikipedia: Burnsville Lake with source given as Department of Army.
  5. ↑ The longest covered bridge ever existing in Harrison County (300 feet).

Notes