Vermont Covered Bridges: Featured Bridge of the Month

Each month we feature a different covered bridge. If you missed the other featured bridges, please see our index of the bridges we've already visited or follow some of the other bridge links on the left.

Shelburne or Museum Bridge in Shelburne, VT

 
Photo: Copyright 2002 Richard St. Peter

Description: Museum Bridge is believed to be built by Farewell Wetherby in 1845, although there is some disagreement over this point. Ed Barna notes that George William Holmes, A Waterville area contractor and barn builder might have been the the designer and crew boss for the bridge. The bridge originally served the town of Cambridge, forty-five miles north of where the bridge is currently located.

The state of Vermont made plans to replace the Cambridge Bridge, so Mrs. J. Watson Webb asked the highway department to donate the old arch bridge to the Shelburne Museum. It serves as the entrance to the museum and has been in place since 1951. The monumental task of moving the 168 foot long bridge was undertaken by Brackett and Warren Hill of Tilton, NH, under the supervision of the University of Vermont engineering professor, Reginald V. Millbank. The bridge was literally dismantled and reassembled in Shelburne. The process started in Sep 1950 and was completed in March 1951.

Other Names:  Cambridge

Size:  168 feet long; one of two double-lane bridges in Vermont

Year Built: 1845

Builder: Farewell Wetherby or George William Holmes

Crosses: Originally the Lamoille River in Waterville, now Burr Pond excavated by the museum.

Type: Burr arch

If you need directions, our Vermont Atlas and Gazetteer will help you find this one. In fact, it has an entire section on covered bridges. See Ed Barna's Covered Bridges of Vermont for more details and how to get to it or check-out the new illustrated map and guide, Vermont Covered Bridges Map and Guide by Robert Hartnett and Ed Barna. Joseph C. Nelson's book, Spanning Time: Vermont's Covered Bridges, is also a good reference book on covered bridges. (All are available in our Country Bookstore)

Vermont Scenic Calendars, Collection of Twelve Vermont Prints and Vermont Fall Foliage Puzzles -- enjoy Vermont every day of the year! For the armchair traveler, check-out our Vermont Videos - featuring some of Vermont's finest covered bridges.