Covered Bridges on Two Wheels
A photographic journey to Vermont's Covered Bridges
Larkin Bridge
 April 2012 |  April 2012 |
|---|---|
 April 2012 |  April 2012 |
 April 2012 |
Current Status: Open
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Location: Tunbridge, on Larkin Road
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Crosses: First Branch of the White River
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GPS: 43.923017N, 72.465456W
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Built: 1902 Length: 68.5 feet
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Truss Design: Multiple kingpost
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WGN*: VT-09-10 NRHP**: Yes
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* WGN: World Guide to Covered Bridges Number
**NRHP: Listed on National Register of Historic Places
Larkin Bridge is just off Route 110, a little north of Tunbridge Village, and is one of several you will find on this stretch of road.
The origin of the name is unknown to me, but seeings how the bridge is on Larkin Road, both the road and the bridge were probably named for a landowner. Possibly the owner of the farm that you'll pass by if you visit.
No records can be found of any major repairs, and I've scoured the Internet quite extensively. Of course, having been built in 1902, the bridge is still a "baby" amongst covered bridges.
While from a distance it may seem like a normal multiple kingpost covered bridge (albeit with a taller, narrower, stance) it shares an unusual trait with the nearby Moxley Bridge. Larkin Road crosses the White River at an angle when a lot of the time crossings are head-on, or perpendicular, to the waterway. Due to this, the bridge abutments could not be built square with the river, and are at an angle to it. This in turn means that the bridge could not be built square.
In the slideshow above, I present a photo of the underside of the bridge showing how the bridge is skewed. It's kind of hard to explain, but you can see how the abutment is not square. The end of the truss on the left is further away than the one the right. Some of the floor beams (the beams running from left to right) are square to the trusses, some of them are at the same angle as the abutment.
Another way to explain it is using the diagram on the left. Imagine you are looking straight down on the bridge from the sky. Just about every covered bridge looks like a rectangle from above. The Larkin and Moxley bridges look like the bottom diagram, a parallelogram. The sides don't meet the ends at square angles. If you utilize the Google map below, switch it to "satellite" view, and zoom in to the bridge, you will see the skew.
Now that I have hopefully explained what a skewed bridge is, imagine the challenge to build a bridge like that when everything doesn't meet up square, and you are building it essentially by hand.
Visiting the bridge:
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Now that I have probably bored you with a technicality of the bridge that may or may not be interesting to you...
Larkin Road is yet another dirt road, but motorcyclists should have no worries as the bridge is not very far down the road.
When I visited, there was a small place to park on the other side of the bridge, but it was filled with the vehicles of contractors working on a house. So, I'm not sure if that was parking for the bridge, or private parking for a residence. I ended parking on the side of the road at the end of a driveway (once again, a great advantage to having a small vehicle).
If the parking area near the bridge doesn't pan out, there is a large area to park by the main road. You'll just have to walk a short way to get to the bridge.