Barrackville Covered Bridge - Side in Winter

This is a list of West Virginia covered bridges. There are 17 historic wooden

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

s in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. 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 The Burr Arch Truss—or, simply, Burr Truss or Burr Arch—is a combination of an arch and a ''multiple kingpost'' truss design. It was invented in 1804 by Theodore Burr, patented on April 3, 1817, and used in bridges, usually covered bridges ...

. 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 () and an important part of state history for its associations with the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

.West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme Publishing; 3rd edition (2003), pg 13

Existing bridges

The following is a list of the 17 extant

Former bridges

The following is a list of no longer extant

covered bridges. A ''complete'' list of covered bridges that have existed at one time or another in the state would exceed 100. ;Barbour County * Audra Covered Bridge, 18??, Audra (Burnt, 1940s) * Moatsville Covered Bridge, 18??, across the

Tygart Valley River The Tygart Valley River — also known as the Tygart River — is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed A ...

at Moatsville (Destroyed, 19??s) ;Braxton County *

Bulltown Covered Bridge Bulltown may refer to: *Bulltown, Ontario, Canada, an unincorporated hamlet now known as Laskay, Ontario * Bulltown, New Jersey, an unincorporated community in Burlington County * Bulltown, West Virginia, a former settlement in Braxton County **Ba ...

, 1854 ;Doddridge County *

West Union Covered Bridge The West Union Covered Bridge formerly carried Tow Path Road over Sugar Creek north-northeast of Montezuma, Indiana. The two-span Burr Arch Truss covered bridge structure was built by Joseph J. Daniels in 1876. It is notable for being the l ...

, 1843 across

Middle Island Creek Middle Island Creek is a river, 77 miles (124 km) long, in northwestern West Virginia in the United States. It is a tributary of the Ohio River, draining an area of 565 square miles (1,463 km2) on the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. It ...

(Destroyed in flood, June 1950). ;Greenbrier County * Greenbrier Covered Bridge, 18??, across

Greenbrier River The Greenbrier River is a tributary of the New River (Kanawha River), New River, long,McNeel, William P. "Greenbrier River." ''The West Virginia Encyclopedia''. Ken Sullivan, editor. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Humanities Council. 2006. . in ...

; near Lewisburg ;Harrison County * Maulsby Covered Bridge, 1848, across

West Fork River The West Fork River is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, long, in north-central West Virginia, United States. Via the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of 881 squar ...

(part of Weston and Fairmont Turnpike Company) ;Lewis County * Weston Covered Bridge, 18??, across

Stonecoal Creek Stonecoal Creek is a tributary of the West Fork River, long, in north-central West Virginia in the United States. Via the West Fork, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of on t ...

, (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 Dunkard Creek is a stream that flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 15, 2011 through Greene County, Pennsylvania and Monongalia County, West Virginia, near t ...

. ;Preston County * Cheat River Covered Bridge (aka Northwestern Turnpike, or Tygart Valley, Bridge), 1835, across

Cheat River The Cheat River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Monongahela River in eastern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the Un ...

near Rowlesburg (Burnt, 1964) ;Randolph County * Beverly Covered Bridge, 1845, Chenoweth's first bridge (destroyed ''ca.'' 1863); part of the

Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike The Staunton–Parkersburg Turnpike was built in what is now the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia during the second quarter of the 19th century to provide a roadway from Staunton, Virginia and the upper Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River ...

; rebuilt by Chenoweth (1872–73; destroyed again after 1952). * Cheat Bridge Covered Bridge, 1841, across

at Cheat Bridge (Removed, 1910) ;Randolph/Upshur Counties * Middle Fork Covered Bridge, 18??, across

Middle Fork River The Middle Fork River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the Tygart Valley River in north-central West Virginia, USA. Via the Tygart Vall ...

spanning county border (Chenoweth; destroyed). ;Taylor County *Valley Bridge, 1834, across

(part of the

Northwestern Turnpike The Northwestern Turnpike is a historic road in West Virginia (Virginia at the time the road was created), important for being historically one of the major roads crossing the Appalachians, financed by the Virginia Board of Public Works in the ...

) at Fetterman (Destroyed in flood, 1888).Snider, Joseph Franklin (1945)
"The Early History of Grafton"
''Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports''. 7362. (Master's thesis for

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

), pp 2-3. ;Upshur County * Buckhannon Covered Bridge, 18?? (Chenoweth; destroyed).

References

Citations

Notes

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

External links

Covered Spans of Yesteryear projectWest Virginia Tourism
article about the state's covered bridges {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of West Virginia Covered Bridges *

Bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somet ...

West Virginia covered bridges Bridges, covered