Vermont Covered Bridges:
Northern  Vermont

Here are some of the bridges we've featured which are located in Northern Vermont.  Each month we feature a different bridge.  If you missed the other featured bridges, you might want to take a look at our Index by Region and County or follow some of the other links on the left.

Northern  Vermont

Greenbanks Hollow Bridge in Danville,,VT

Photos: Copyright 1999 Dave MacKenzie

Description:  Greenbanks Hollow Bridge, located in Danville, looks almost ghostly with its coat of white paint. The bridge crosses Joe's Brook just upstream of a broken dam. In 1840 Benjamin Greenbanks came from England to start a large-scale woolen cloth factory. This mill was one of the largest in New England, employing about 45 men, women and children. A fire in 1885 destroyed the mill, a store, several farms and a covered bridge. The present bridge is the successor to the original. The mill was never rebuilt. Apparently, the original bridge was built without a roof. In 1970, the bridge roadway was reinforced with steel beams and a concrete pier in midstream.

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Size: 74.5  feet long, 13.5 feet wide

Year Built: 1886

Builder: Unknown

Crosses: Joe's Brook and Greenbanks Hollow Road

Type: Queenpost

Lake Shore or Holmes Creek Bridge in Charlotte, VT

  
Photo: Copyright 2001 Dave MacKenzie

Description: The Lake Shore Bridge crosses Holmes Creek just a few feet from Lake Champlain. It has the distinction of being one of Vermont's shortest covered bridges and also of being at the lowest elevations. Lake Champlain's water level hovers around 100 feet above sea level. In 1993, the Agency of Transportation inspection team found the bridge needed repairs. During 1993 and 1994, Graton Associates rebuilt the bridge, which now has one new 7-layer laminated arch.

Photo: Copyright 2001 Dave MacKenzie

Size: 40 feet long, 12  feet wide

Year Built: Uncertain -- 1870 or 1898

Builder: Leonard Sherman

Crosses: Holmes Creek and Lake Road

Type: Kingpost with tied arch

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

Red Bridge in Morristown, VT

Photos: Copyright 1999 Dave MacKenzie

Description: Red Bridge crosses over Sterling Brook in Morristown, near Stowe, Vermont. Usually referred to as Red Bridge now, locals called it Chaffee Bridge for a family who lived nearby, while others remember it as Sterling Brook Bridge. Built in 1896, the bridge uses a kingpost truss with a superimposed queenpost truss system. When damaged by a storm in 1897, the unique truss system was made even more unique with the addition of iron rods for support.

Size: 64 feet long, 13.7 feet wide

Year Built: 1896

Builder: Unknown

Crosses: Sterling Brook and Bedell Hill Road

Type: Unique to Vermont, using both a kingpost and a queenpost

Emily's Bridge in Stowe, VT

Photo: Copyright 1997-98 Marjorie Thouin

Description: This bridge, built in 1844 by John W. Smith, is known formally as Gold Brook Bridge or Stowe Hollow Bridge. But to the locals, this one lane bridge will always be known as Emily's Bridge. Why? Because Emily is the ghost who haunts it! Leave it to Vermont to have a haunted covered bridge! We'll tell you why it's believed to be haunted in our Folklore section.

Once things warm-up and thaw-out a little, you might want to try panning for gold here, hence the name Gold Brook Bridge.

Size: 48.5 feet long, 12.4 feet wide

Year Built: 1844

Builder: John W. Smith

Crosses: Stowe Hollow

Type: Howe

Fisher Bridge in Wolcott, VT

Photo: Copyright 1997 Marjorie Thouin

Description: This bridge is the last railroad covered bridge still in regular use in Vermont and one of a very few left in the U.S. Built in 1908, it is the only one remaining with a full-length cupola, which provided a smoke escape, especially during the era of steam engines. In 1968 the bridge was scheduled for destruction to make way for a new steel span. It was saved by placing heavy steel beams underneath. The renovation was funded by the State of Vermont and generous private donations. (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.

Size: 103 feet long

Year Built: 1908

Builder: St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County Railroad

Crosses: Lamoille River and Railroad Line

Alternate Name: Chubb or Chub

Type: Town-Pratt, Double Lattice

Orne Bridge in Coventry, VT

Photos: Copyright 2000 Dave MacKenzie

Description:  Halloween arsonists burned down the original 116 year old Orne Bridge in 1997, located in Coventry Village in the town of Irasburg. Two Vermont men were found guilty of pouring gasoline on the bridge and putting a match to it. Both were fined and sentenced to perform community service. Shown here is a picture of the bridge during the reconstruction. After two years and a cost of approximately $400,000, a near-replica was officially opened on November 29, 1999. (Slightly heavier, yellow pine beams were used instead of spruce for the new bridge.)

Size: 86 feet long, 15  feet wide

Year Built: 1881; rebuilt 1999

Builder: J.D. Colton (1881)

Crosses: Black River and Heermansmith Farm Road

Type: Paddleford truss

Covered Bridge Resources

If you need directions, our Vermont Atlas and Gazetteer will help you find the bridges. In fact, it has an entire section on covered bridges. See Ed Barna's Covered Bridges of Vermont for more details and driving/parking tips or check-out the 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.