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The Taftsville Covered Bridge is a timber-framed covered bridge which spans the Ottauquechee River in the Taftsville village of Woodstock, Vermont, in the United States.[1] Built in 1836 and exhibiting no influence from patented bridge designs,[1] it is among the oldest remaining covered bridges both in Vermont[2] and the nation as a whole.[3]

History

The village of Taftsville was first settled more than 70 years before the construction of the modern Taftsville Bridge.[4] Stephen Taft, after whom the village was ultimately named, arrived in the early 1790s. Within a decade of Taft's arrival, he and his brother had established a number of mills and the increasingly busy settlement required a bridge over the Ottauquechee River. The first bridge was washed away during a flood in 1807, with its replacement also falling to floodwaters in 1811. When the third bridge at the site was again washed away during an 1828 flood, a distinguished local by the name of Solomon Emmons III was contracted to build a more resilient crossing. His timber-framed, covered bridge was completed in 1836 and still stands today as the modern Taftsville Bridge.[1]

The Taftsville Bridge was extensively damaged by flooding caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011, and was closed for two years while repairs took place. It was reopened in September 2013.[5]

Damage caused by flood waters on the Ottauquechee River as a result of Hurricane Irene

Architecture

Unlike many extant covered bridges which are based upon patented bridge designs, the Taftsville Bridge reflects an earlier "craftsman" bridge-building tradition that was possibly influenced by designs found in Switzerland. While the incorporation of laminated arches in the bridge structure is generally indicative of the well-known Burr arch-truss, which was patented in the United States in 1817, the resemblance is purely superficial. Instead, the unusual design of the Taftsville Bridge is better described as a "modified multiple kingpost truss with semi-independent arches".[1]

Taftsville Bridge reaches a total of 189 feet (58 m) over the Ottauquechee River with two spans of 89 feet (27 m) and 100 feet (30 m) from either river bank to a central pier in the river gorge. The bridge measures 20 feet (6.1 m) in width, providing an interior roadway that is 16 feet (4.9 m).[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Conwill, Joseph D.; Lee, J. Lawrence (2004). "Taftsville Bridge" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  2. ^ Bickel, Hank. "Vermont Covered Bridges: Taftsville Bridge VT-14-12". Covered Bridges of the Northeast USA. Hank Bickel. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  3. ^ Conwill, Joseph D. (2014). Covered Bridges. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78442-010-9.
  4. ^ Dana, Henry Swan (1889). History of Woodstock, Vermont. Houghton, Mifflin. p. 98. Retrieved 14 June 2016. taftsville.
  5. ^ "Reconnecting with the Taftsville Covered Bridge". Happy Vermont. July 11, 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
  6. ^ Henry, Hugh H. (August 28, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places: Nomination: Taftsville Covered Bridge". National Park Service.

External links

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taftsville_Covered_Bridge