Covered Bridges on Two Wheels
A photographic journey to Vermont's Covered Bridges
Hammond Bridge
Current Status: Pedestrian Only
Location: Pittsford, off Kendall Hill Road
Crosses: Otter Creek
GPS: 43.720634N, 73.053503W
Built: 1842 Length: 139 feet
Truss Design: Town lattice
WGN*: VT-11-05 NRHP**: Yes
* WGN: World Guide to Covered Bridges Number
**NRHP: Listed on National Register of Historic Places
While most of Vermont's covered bridges are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, only a handful are also designated as State Historic Sites. The Hammond Bridge is one of those. Named for a nearby family, it has also been called the Florence Station Bridge and Florence Bridge for the hamlet located just down the road from the bridge, and its train station.
This is another of the few bridges in the state to have survived the Flood of 1927, but barely. It was washed a mile downriver and luckily remained intact. It was raised up and floated back up the river on air-filled barrels and re-installed.
While it continued to serve faithfully after that, heavy truck traffic to and from the nearby Omya plant (producers of calcium carbonate from marble) sealed its fate. A modern concrete and steel bridge was built to handle the traffic in the 1960's, thus bypassing the aging covered bridge. Indications are that despite being bypassed, it was still open to local vehicular traffic until the early 1990's. At that time it was deemed unsafe for vehicles but remained open to foot traffic and snowmobiles. That was until 2003 when it was closed to all.
In 2005, Alpine Construction of Schuylerville, NY was contracted to perform stabilization on the bridge to keep it from falling into the creek under its own weight. Project superintendent Jim Ligon noted that several factors are combining to weaken the bridge including problems with the original construction, repairs made during the 1927 episode and distribution beams that were added in the 1950's. He also noted that at the time, a large colony of bats had taken up residence inside the bridge as well as a large flock of pigeons. The droppings only added to the problems by attracting spiders and other insects in hordes.
The bridge has been stabilized, for now, and pedestrians are once again allowed to enter. Large braces have been installed inside the bridge (the first photo in the slideshow displays this quite clearly). In order to allow people (and horses, based on the droppings inside) to use the bridge safely, the bracing and dangerous spots in the floor have been cordoned off by railings. The last photo shows pretty clearly that despite the stabilization, the bridge continues to be severely twisted in the middle. As of now, a complete restoration has been contemplated, but not carried out yet. The damage may be too severe to save the bridge.
Visiting the bridge:
Hammond Bridge is one of the more popular tourist stops (despite its dilapidated appearance) because you can walk in it without worrying about traffic and because of the large area in which to park. The approach on the western end is large enough to accommodate a tour bus, which it has been known to do. On the day I visited there were a couple carloads of tourists speaking some language I could not place. This can make it challenging to take pictures of the bridge if you don't want people in your shots.
As mentioned before, this nearly 200 year old bridge has been bypassed by a modern bridge which offers a great vantage point for taking a photo... if you don't mind being potentially plastered by a huge semi truck. The bypass bridge was not built with sidewalks for pedestrians and thus is (in my opinion) pretty dangerous to walk across.
In addition to the large parking area on the western side of the bridge, the original road leading to the bridge's eastern portal is still there, albeit overgrown and more of a path than a road now. Since it is used mainly for walking and horseback riding, I would not recommend driving on it.