Covered Bridges on Two Wheels
A photographic journey to Vermont's Covered Bridges
Taftsville Bridge
One of the most visually stunning bridges in Vermont, the Taftsville Covered Bridge is also one of the oldest.
Two of the first settlers to this area of Vermont were Solomon Emmons and Stephen Taft. Taft dammed the river at this site, built a sawmill and shops. The area began to be kown as Tafts Mills, Taft Flat and then finally Taftsville. Taft's sister married Solomon Emmons son (Solomon Jr.) and together the Emmons and Taft families built several bridges here that were subsequently destroyed in floods. The current bridge was built by Solomon Emmons III in 1836 and has survived to this day (but not without some modification and scrapes along the way).
Current Status: Open
Location: Woodstock, on Covered Bridge Road
Crosses: Ottauquechee River
GPS: 43.631043N, -72.467650W
Built: 1836 Length: 189 feet
Truss Design: Combination of kingpost/queenpost
with arches
WGN*: VT-14-12 NRHP**: Yes
* WGN: World Guide to Covered Bridges Number
**NRHP: Listed on National Register of Historic Places
The bridge was originally built as the two-span structure you see today. This is not a case where a long bridge had a pier added for strength. More than half the cost of building the bridge was the stonework, including the center pier, which of course has subsequently been reinforced with concrete. In the early 1900's the huge laminated arches were added for more support. In 1920 a bad lean was corrected, but a major repair effort in the 1950s involved jacking the bridge up using the frozen river as support to repair the trusses, foundation and floors. At that time, traditional wooden tie-beam bracing was replaced with stronger metal braces.
The hardest blow to the bridge occurred on August 28, 2011 - Tropical Storm Irene.
The YouTube video on the right shows just how high the waters of the river got. Compare this to the photos in the slide show to get a sense of the volume of water that coursed through many of southern Vermont's waterways and how devastating the flooding was. The southern abutment sustained severe damage and debris carried by the river, including huge propane tanks, slammed the center pier, arches and the side of the bridge itself. It actually is amazing that the bridge survived at all.
The bridge was closed for two years to perform extensive work to replace the badly damaged southern abutment, reinforce the center pier and repair other damage. During this repair effort, the metal tie-beam braces were replaced with traditional wooden ones. The bridge was reopened in 2013 with a nice, new Vermont Historic Site marker installed.
Visiting the bridge:
Parking at the bridge is available at the power plant adjacent to the bridge. But this area tends to be busy and the bridge frequently crossed.
While the bridge overall is fairly wide, the traveled lane within it is not so much so. Caution is advised when crossing this long bridge on foot.
However, if you do get the chance to spend time in the bridge, observe the trusses for they are unique in the state, and probably will never been seen anywhere else. They have elements that resemble a multiple kingpost truss, but the ends of each span have diagonal members that also resemble, and serve the same purpose, as the ends of a queenpost truss.