Kentucky's Covered BridgesKentucky is well recognized for bourbon, bluegrass, and the Kentucky Derby. When thinking of covered bridges, the commonwealth is not the state that readily comes to mind. Many of Kentucky's covered bridges were built by such men as Wernwag, Bower, Carothers, Day, Stone, and Long, but many of the names were never recorded or have been lost to time. Kentucky once was home to the longest single-span wooden bridge in the world and to a covered bridge through which a Civil War battle was fought. Time, arson, progress, neglect, and misguided maintenance have spelled the demise of the majority of these structures. Readers of this volume might be surprised to learn that Kentucky once claimed more than 700 timbered tunnels and that over 50 of these survived well into the 1950s. Equally surprising, the commonwealth is still home to 13 of these structures. |
Contents
Acknowledgments | 6 |
KIPDA | 29 |
The Pennyrile and the Barren River | 43 |
The Gateway and the Buffalo Trace | 97 |
FIVCO | 117 |
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Common terms and phrases
abutments added appeared began Bluegrass Bourbon County Bower Bridge Company bridge was built Burr arch truss Butler bypassed Camp carried Civil Cleveland collapsed completed construction continues County line County's Courtesy Kentucky Historical Courtesy Transylvania University CREEK BRIDGE crossed Cumberland Cynthiana demolished destroyed Development discovered early existed fire Fleming Fork George Goodman Green INTERIOR iron John Thierman Collection Jurgensen photograph Kentucky covered bridge Kentucky Highway Department Kentucky Historical Society Kentucky's covered Kentucky's covered bridges known Lake last covered bridge later Laughlin least Licking River Little Long longest Louisville March Mason County Mercer County MILL BRIDGE Morgan named Nelson North Fork once original painted photograph shows photograph was taken portals preservation queenpost truss remained removed repair replaced by concrete residents restoration Road roof siding span standing steel Stock stone stood structure timbers Town traffic Transylvania University Library travelers two-span wood