Covered Bridges on Two Wheels
A photographic journey to Vermont's Covered Bridges
Upper Falls Bridge
Although officially known as the Upper Falls Bridge, this beautiful span is more popularly known by another name. An early settler of Weathersfield, Abraham Downer, and his descendants gave name to the area where Routes 106 and 131 now intersect - Downer's Four Corners. The broader area surrounding the Corners was dubbed just plain Downers.
Along with other businesses, there existed in this area a Downer's Hotel which, before it's demise, housed the last known panther killed in Vermont.
Being in the general Downers vicinity, the bridge naturally became known as the Downers Bridge.
Current Status: Open
Location: Weathersfield, on Upper Falls Road
Crosses: Black River
GPS: 43.398399N, 72.522200W
Built: 1840 Length: 121 feet
Truss Design: Town lattice
WGN*: VT-14-08 NRHP**: Yes
* WGN: World Guide to Covered Bridges Number
**NRHP: Listed on National Register of Historic Places
While the build date of this bridge is not certain, 1840 is generally accepted. It was built by James Tasker, who also built the nearby Salmond and Titcomb (Stoughton) bridges, and it is evident that he was not a one-trick pony. Those other two were built with multiple kingpost trusses, while this one built with Town lattices.
He incorporated some stylistic differences not seen on many (or any) other covered bridges. The portals were intricately constructed to simulate a Greek Revival architecture including splined gable-end boards. The bridge also originally had buttresses similar to those found on the River Road Bridge, but they were removed during a renovation. While the southern abutment has been reinforced with concrete, the northern abutment is untouched and remains one of (if not the most) impressive examples of dry stone masonry in the state.
In 1975 a extensive renovation was conducted, including raising the entire bridge some 2.5 feet because the approaches kept getting raised and allowing water to flow into the bridge (inducing rot). Another renovation was undertaken in 2007 to fix other issues that couldn't be addressed in the earlier repair. This included replacing parts of the bottom lower chord which couldn't be taken care of before. Instead, a fifth chord was added to help strengthen the span.
Visiting the bridge:
There are two places where you can park to visit the bridge. At the intersection of Upper Falls Road and Route 131 is a decently large parking area. A short walk brings you to the bridge. This parking area, and the short road to the bridge are dirt, so keep that in mind if you are arriving on two wheels.
On the southern side of the bridge is a wide T-intersection, and while not an ideal spot to stop, it will work.
The bridge serves only a handful of families on the other side, so traffic is quite light. This should allow you to closely examine the construction and cross the bridge with little in the way of safety concerns.
This bridge is also situated in an area that affords easy access to the river via paths.