Vermont Covered Bridges:
Southern 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.

Southern Vermont

Henry Bridge in Bennington, VT

Photos: Copyright 2000 Dave MacKenzie

Description:  The current Henry Bridge, located in Bennington, Vermont, is a replica of the original built around 1840. The Vermont Agency of Transportation has posted the following information on a sign by the bridge: 

"This quiet spot was once a major river crossing. Traffic between southwestern Vermont and New York State crossed here until a railroad was built in 1852. Troops marched from Manchester, Vermont to the Battle of Bennington in 1777 and teams and stages transported freight and passengers. The original Henry Bridge was built c. 1840. In the late 1860's and '70s heavy wagon loads of iron ore were hauled over the bridge from the Burden Iron Company mine on Ore Bed Road to its washing works on Paran Creek in North Bennington. A succession of water-powered mills was located next to the bridge on the south side."

"The last was a gristmill operated into the 1920s by Berntine T. Henry, one of this area's many descendants of the Irish born William Henry (1734-1811) . . . This bridge, built in 1989 by the State of Vermont Agency of Transportation, is a replica replacing the deteriorating original bridge built c. 1840."

Size: 121 feet long, 14  feet wide

Year Built: ~ 1840; completely replicated in 1989

Builder: Original builder unknown; 1989 bridge by Blow and Cote of Morrisville, VT

Crosses: Walloomasac River and Murphy Road

Type: Town Lattice

Chiselville Bridge in Sunderland, VT

Photos: Copyright 1998 Richard St. Peter

Description: A former chisel factory was the inspiration for the Chiselville Bridge's name. Old factory housing is located nearby. The current bridge replaced an original Town lattice built in 1841. In 1869, a gale and downpour sent the Roaring Branch (a branch of the Battenkill River) smashing into the old covered bridge, destroying it. Daniel Oatman, a local builder, met with local townspeople and promised to "...build a bridge there that will never wash out." In 1870, the replacement bridge was located on the 40-foot cliffs near the local mill dam. The new bridge survived the Flood of 1927, fulfilling Oatman's promise.

Size: 117 feet in length, 11.8 feet wide

Year Built: 1870

Builder: Daniel Oatman

Crosses: Roaring Branch Brook and Sunderland Hill Road

Type: Town Lattice

West Arlington Bridge in Arlington, VT

Photo: Copyright 1998 Dave MacKenzie

Description: The West Arlington Bridge, also known as the Bridge at the Green and/or Arlington Green, is one of the most-photographed bridges in Vermont. You may want to bring along the swimming suits and fishing poles on your visit to this picturesque bridge. The swimming hole is a regional favorite and the Battenkill is world famous for its trout fishing.

Photo: Copyright 1998 Dave MacKenzie

Size: 80.3 feet long, 14 feet wide

Year Built: 1852

Builder: Unknown

Crosses: Battenkill River and unnamed road leading to River Road

Type: Town Lattice

West Dummerston Bridge in West Dummerston, VT

Photo: Copyright 1997 Marjorie Thouin

Description: This bridge was built in 1871-1872 by carpenter C.B. Lamson at the age of 22. The Freshet of 1869 broke a previous covered bridge in two. There was considerable dispute among the citizens over where the bridge should be located. After three years a site was chosen and the bridge put on at a total cost, including land, damages and abutments, of $7,777.08. While it was under construction, it collapsed with the loss of one life...by a falling timber.

The bridge was recently the subject of a major restoration. It was closed in November 1993. In December 1994, a special Town Meeting approved spending up to $621,000.

Photo: Copyright 1997 Marjorie Thouin

Size: 280 feet long in two spans

Year Built: 1872

Builder: Caleb B. Lamson

Crosses: West River and East-West Road

Type: Town Lattice

Kidder Hill Bridge in Grafton,VT

Photos: Copyright 1999 Dave MacKenzie

Description:  The Kidder Hill Bridge is the longest of Vermont's four surviving kingpost bridges. It was built in 1870 to replace a bridge lost in the flood of 1869. Kidder Hill Road and bridge once served a soapstone quarry, which is now closed. In its prime, the bridge was strong enough to support wagon-loads of stone. A complete restoration of the bridge was completed on September 3, 1995. The two glue-laminated beams, used on either side of the roadway inside the covered bridge, have been very controversial. Preservationists claim the modern combination of wood fiber and resin spoils the bridge's authenticity. Others believe it is a reasonable compromise to preserve the bridge. What's your opinion?

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Size: 67 feet long, 10   feet wide

Year Built: 1870

Builder: Unknown

Crosses: South Branch of Saxtons River and Kidder Hill Road

Type: Modified Kingpost



Green river Bridge in Guilford, VT



Photo: Copyright 1997 Marjorie Thouin

Description: This bridge was built to replace one lost in the Freshet of 1869, which took out all the Green River bridges. According to the 1874 Town Report, the total expense of rebuilding the bridge was $7,081.09. A few of the expenses were: Henry Stowe, land damage $10.00; M.H. Day (an outsider), for masonry $4,670.55; Marcus Worden for woodwork $1570.54 and sign boards $8.00. A local resident, Lawrence French, remembered that his father worked on the bridge, and that only "those with a steady head were allowed to work in the high places." A town derrick once stored in the bridge, was probably used in the "raising."

This interior picture of the bridge shows the neighborhood mail boxes. In 1953, a New Haven, CT paper called it the "only place in the world where you have to drive through the Post Office to get from one side of the town to the other."

Photo: Copyright 1997 Marjorie Thouin

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: 104 feet long

Year Built: 1870

Builder: Marcus Worden; abutments by M.H. Day

Crosses: Green River and Jacksonville Stage Road

Type: Town Lattice

Our special thanks to Vermont Only visitor George Kurzon, who owns the "Bridge House" next to the bridge. He found most of this information through the Guilford Historical Society.

Source: Official History of Guilford 1678 - 1961, Broad Brook Grange No. 151.



Victorian Village Bridge in Rockingham, VT

Description: On the south side of Route 103 near the village of Rockingham stands the Victorian Village Bridge, next to Orton's Vermont Country Store. Also known as Depot Bridge, it was originally built in Townshend as the Townshend Depot Bridge by Harrison Chamberlin in 1872 using a queenpost truss. The bridge was dismantled in 1959 by the Army Corps of Engineers to clear the way for a flood-control dam and reservoir in Townshend. Vrest Orton rescued the bridge and stored it on the farm of Aubrey Stratton until construction began on the Rockingham store in 1966. The dismantled bridge was moved to the new site, shortened to forty-four feet in length and reassembled as a kingpost truss. The bridge now leads to a restored early-19th-century gristmill.

Photos: Copyright 1998 Dave MacKenzie

Size: 44 feet in length

Year Built: 1872; dismantled in 1959; modified and rebuilt in 1967

Builder: Harrison Chamberlain; rebuilt by Aubrey Stratton

Crosses: Parking lot road and unnamed brook

Type: Modified kingpost (Howe-type iron centerposts); originally queenpost



High Mowing Farm Bridge in Wilmington, VT



Photo: Copyright 1998 Marjorie Thouin

Description: The High Mowing Farm Bridge was once part of the farm property and buildings across the road. The twin silos on the farm gave the bridge one of its names -- Twin Silos Bridge. The bridge, a relatively recent addition to the Vermont landscape, was built to give access to 50 of the 500 acres of cleared pasture on the farm. It was primarily used to cross sheep over this tributary of the Deerfield River.

Size: 22 feet long, 12 feet wide

Year Built: 1949

Builder: Haynes Brothers, Inc., of Wilmington

Crosses: Unnamed tributary of the Deerfield River

Type: Town Lattice

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.