Covered Bridges - Discovering A North American Living History

Covered Bridges first appeared in the U.S. around 1805, but the history of these monuments to another age date back thousands of years to China. Covered bridges had also existed in Europe since medieval times and there were once hundreds of them in Switzerland, Austria and Germany.



But it�s here in the Northeastern U.S., where wooden covered bridge design and construction reached its pinnacle in the nineteenth century. A combination of pressing need, plentiful old growth northern forests, and sheer Yankee ingenuity, advanced the development of wooden covered bridges to a rare combination of marvelous engineering feats that were also pleasing to the eye.



WHY SO MANY COVERED BRIDGES IN THE NORTHEAST?



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