List of covered bridges in West Virginia

This is a list of West Virginia covered bridges. There are 17 historic wooden covered bridges in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Only three of these bridges were built before 1870 and they are the three longest in the state. Each uses a standard truss design, braced with the Burr Arch. No one-truss design dominates in the state. The bridges are located in three general areas. In the south in Monroe and Greenbrier counties there are about a half dozen bridges within an easy drive of one another. To the north around Philippi is another group of bridges, including the historic Philippi Covered Bridge which is the longest (285 feet (87 m)) and an important part of state history for its associations with the American Civil War.^[1]

Existing bridges

The following is a list of the 17 extant West Virginia covered bridges.

Name^[1]	Location ^[1]^[A]	Year Built^[1]	Length	Crosses	Design	Historical Notes
Barrackville Covered Bridge	Barrackville, Marion County	1853	146 feet (45 m)	Buffalo Creek	Multiple king post, Burr arch	Built by Lemuel Chenoweth
Carrollton Covered Bridge^[2]	Carrollton, Barbour County	1856	141 feet (43 m)	Buckhannon River	Multiple king post, Burr arch	Reconstructed 2022 after arson^[3]
Center Point Covered Bridge	Center Point, Doddridge County	1888	42 feet (13 m)	Pike Fork of McElroy Creek	Long truss
Dents Run Covered Bridge	Laurel Point, Monongalia County	1889	40 feet (12 m)	Dents Run	King post
Fish Creek Covered Bridge aka "Hundred Covered Bridge"	Hundred, Wetzel County	1881, 2001^[4]	30 feet (9.1 m)	Fish Creek	King post
Fletcher Covered Bridge aka "Ten Mile Creek Covered Bridge"	Cutler, Harrison County	1891	58 feet (18 m)	Tenmile Creek	Multiple king post
Herns Mill Covered Bridge aka "Milligan Creek Covered Bridge"	Asbury, Greenbrier County	1884	54 feet (16 m)	Milligans Creek	Queen post
Hokes Mill Covered Bridge aka "Second Creek Covered Bridge"	Hokes Mill, Greenbrier County	1899	82 feet (25 m)	Second Creek	Long truss
Indian Creek Covered Bridge	Union, Monroe County	1903	48 feet (15 m)	Indian Creek	Long truss
Laurel Creek Covered Bridge aka "Lily Dale Covered Bridge"	Lillydale, Monroe County	1911	22 feet (6.7 m)	Laurel Creek	Howe truss
Locust Creek Covered Bridge	Hillsboro, Pocahontas County	1870	113 feet (34 m)	Monroe Creek	Warren truss
Mud River Covered Bridge	Milton, Cabell County	1875	108 feet (33 m)	Mud River	Howe truss
Philippi Covered Bridge	Philippi, Barbour County	1852	285 feet (87 m)	Tygart Valley River	Long truss with Burr arch	Built by Chenoweth
Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge aka "Sandy Creek Covered Bridge" and "New Era Covered Bridge"	Sandyville, Jackson County	1889, 2000^[4]	101 feet (31 m)	Left Fork Sandy Creek	Long truss
Simpson Creek Covered Bridge aka "Hollens Mill Covered Bridge"	Bridgeport, Harrison County	1881	74 feet (23 m)	Simpson Creek	Multiple king post
Staats Mill Covered Bridge	Ripley, Jackson County	1887	97 feet (30 m)	Pond^[4]	Long truss	Originally over Tug Fork, Big Mill Creek
Walkersville Covered Bridge	Walkersville, Lewis County	1903	54 feet (16 m)	Right Fork of West Fork River	Queen post

Former bridges

The following is a list of no longer extant West Virginia covered bridges. A complete list of covered bridges that have existed at one time or another in the state would exceed 100.^[5]

Barbour County

Audra Covered Bridge, 18??, Audra (Burnt, 1940s)
Moatsville Covered Bridge, 18??, across the Tygart Valley River at Moatsville (Destroyed, 19??s)

Braxton County

Bulltown Covered Bridge, 1854^[6]

Doddridge County

West Union Covered Bridge, 1843 across Middle Island Creek (Destroyed in flood, June 1950).

Greenbrier County

Greenbrier Covered Bridge, 18??, across Greenbrier River; near Lewisburg

Harrison County

Maulsby Covered Bridge, 1848, across West Fork River (part of Weston and Fairmont Turnpike Company)^[7]

Lewis County

Weston Covered Bridge, 18??, across Stonecoal Creek, (Chenoweth; destroyed).

Marion County

Paw Paw Creek Covered Bridge, 18??, Grant Town (Destroyed in flood, August 1980)

Monongalia County

Wadestown Covered Bridge, 18??, across the West Virginia branch of Dunkard Creek.

Preston County

Cheat River Covered Bridge (aka Northwestern Turnpike, or Tygart Valley, Bridge), 1835, across Cheat River near Rowlesburg (Burnt, 1964)

Randolph County

Beverly Covered Bridge, 1845, Chenoweth's first bridge (destroyed ca. 1863); part of the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike; rebuilt by Chenoweth (1872–73; destroyed again after 1952).
Cheat Bridge Covered Bridge, 1841, across Cheat River at Cheat Bridge (Removed, 1910)^[8]

Randolph/Upshur Counties

Middle Fork Covered Bridge, 18??, across Middle Fork River spanning county border (Chenoweth; destroyed).

Taylor County

Valley Bridge, 1834, across Tygart Valley River (part of the Northwestern Turnpike) at Fetterman (Destroyed in flood, 1888).^[9]

Upshur County

Buckhannon Covered Bridge, 18?? (Chenoweth; destroyed).

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme Publishing; 3rd edition (2003), pg 13
^ "NRHP nomination for Carrollton Covered Bridge". National Park Service. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
^ "West Virginia DOH completes restoration of historic Carrollton Covered Bridge". WV News. West Virginia News. May 23, 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Caswell, William S. World Guide to Covered Bridges (2021 ed.). Concord, New Hampshire: National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. pp. 157–161. ISBN 978-0-578-30263-8.
^ Shaluta, Jr., Stephen J. (2004), Covered Bridges in West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia: Quarrier Press.
^ Cook, Roy Bird: "The Battle of Bulltown" "The West Virginia Review: June 1933:254-56 found in WV Archives and History at wvculture.org, Replaced with steel bridge (my personal witness we drove over it from Burnsville to Bulltown) which was destroyed by Army Engineers when the Burnsville Dam was built between summer of 1972-September 1976. See Wikipedia: Burnsville Lake with source given as Department of Army.
^ The longest covered bridge ever existing in Harrison County (300 feet).
^ After the Battle of Greenbrier River (3 October 1861), Union troops used the bridge when they built extensive military defenses at nearby Cheat Summit. Over 40 years later, celebrated satirist and short story writer Ambrose Bierce revisited the site of his youthful service. He found that “…the old wooden covered bridge across the Cheat River looks hardly a day older, and is still elaborately decorated with soldiers’ names carven with jack-knives.” (Letter, Ambrose Bierce to Alexander Whitehall, 30 September 1904. Published in Ninth Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association: Proceedings of the 18th Annual Reunion (N.p., 1904), pp 13-18. Reprinted as “Battlefields and Ghosts” (Palo Alto, California: Harvest Press, 1931) and in Joshi, S.T. and David E. Schultz, eds. (1998), Ambrose Bierce, A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography; Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, pp 3-6.)
^ Snider, Joseph Franklin (1945), "The Early History of Grafton", Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7362. (Master's thesis for West Virginia University), pp 2-3.

Notes

^A Sorting this column will result in bridges being listed in order by county.

External links

Covered Spans of Yesteryear project
West Virginia Tourism article about the state's covered bridges

[Atlas-1] West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme Publishing; 3rd edition (2003), pg 13

[NRHP_carrollton-2] "NRHP nomination for Carrollton Covered Bridge". National Park Service. Retrieved June 7, 2016.

[wvnews2023-3] "West Virginia DOH completes restoration of historic Carrollton Covered Bridge". WV News. West Virginia News. May 23, 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2024.

[NSPCB-4] Caswell, William S. World Guide to Covered Bridges (2021 ed.). Concord, New Hampshire: National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. pp. 157–161. ISBN 978-0-578-30263-8.

[5] Shaluta, Jr., Stephen J. (2004), Covered Bridges in West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia: Quarrier Press.

[6] Cook, Roy Bird: "The Battle of Bulltown" "The West Virginia Review: June 1933:254-56 found in WV Archives and History at wvculture.org, Replaced with steel bridge (my personal witness we drove over it from Burnsville to Bulltown) which was destroyed by Army Engineers when the Burnsville Dam was built between summer of 1972-September 1976. See Wikipedia: Burnsville Lake with source given as Department of Army.

[7] The longest covered bridge ever existing in Harrison County (300 feet).

[8] After the Battle of Greenbrier River (3 October 1861), Union troops used the bridge when they built extensive military defenses at nearby Cheat Summit. Over 40 years later, celebrated satirist and short story writer Ambrose Bierce revisited the site of his youthful service. He found that “…the old wooden covered bridge across the Cheat River looks hardly a day older, and is still elaborately decorated with soldiers’ names carven with jack-knives.” (Letter, Ambrose Bierce to Alexander Whitehall, 30 September 1904. Published in Ninth Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association: Proceedings of the 18th Annual Reunion (N.p., 1904), pp 13-18. Reprinted as “Battlefields and Ghosts” (Palo Alto, California: Harvest Press, 1931) and in Joshi, S.T. and David E. Schultz, eds. (1998), Ambrose Bierce, A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography; Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, pp 3-6.)

[9] Snider, Joseph Franklin (1945), "The Early History of Grafton", Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7362. (Master's thesis for West Virginia University), pp 2-3.

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