Vermont Covered Bridges

Per square mile, there are more Covered Bridges in Vermont than in any other state in the U.S. Residents in Vermont cherish their covered bridges, not minding the way a driver has to slow down and often wait for an oncoming car to travel through the bridge first. 

When I lived in Vermont, I sometimes went out of my way to cross a covered bridge on my way to and from work. I even remember one occasion when the covered bridge was closed for repairs and the wide detour I had to take made me late! My employer was not impressed with my excuse, but I often chose to go that way again, though usually on my way home!

In Vermont, as elsewhere, covered bridges were built in the days when horse and buggy was the main form of transportation. People had a different sense of time and movement than we do today. Sometimes it's fun to slow down our own lives and think about what it would have been like to live when the roads were full of horses and people moving on foot. Visiting covered bridges in Vermont or other places helps us do just that.

Covered bridges were built with a roof for one very good reason -- weather! Because in the 1800's bridges were built mostly with wood, and because Vermont experiences challenging weather during the long cold winter, bridges were built with a roof to keep the snow off the crossing surface.

This minimized problems with horses and drivers sliding off into the river, but the main reason they were covered was to protect the wooden structure itself. If a bridge had to withstand heavy packs of snow each year, not only would it become impassible for long stretches, but the weight of the snow and the tendency of the wood to rot would mean that the bridge would have to be replaced often, costing a lot of moola.

Builders were not just trying to build an attractive structure. They were using their ingenuity to solve the problems of travel in their day.

The longest covered bridge in the U.S. crosses the Connecticut River between Windsor, VT, and Cornish, NH. This covered bridge, which stretches 449 feet, is also the longest two-span covered bridge in the world. It was built in 1866 for the whopping fee of $9000. Built as a toll bridge, the Cornish-Windsor covered bridge was bought by the State of New Hampshire in 1936 and was made toll-free in 1943.

There is still a sign that hangs over the bridge that says, "Walk Your Horses or Pay Two Dollars Fine." That sign itself conjures to mind some of the ruckus that must have erupted in the days when horses met each other inside the dark covered bridge, along with pedestrians and maybe even a bicycle or two.

In the 1800's, people often had to pay a toll to cross a covered bridge. Tolls were used to defray the costs of building and maintaining the covered bridges.

This is a list of what you would expect to pay to cross over the river by covered bridge:

• A man on foot                                                1 cent
• A man on horseback                                     4 cents
• A one-horse carriage                                    10 cents
• A carriage drawn by more than one horse  20 cents
• Cattle                                                               1 cent, driver free
• Sheep or swine                                              1/2 cent, driver free

Information credit from the Vermont Life Magazine webpage.