The Paper Mill Village Bridge, also called the Paper Mill Bridge or Bennington Falls Covered Bridge, is a 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 ...
that carries Murphy Road across the
Walloomsac River
The Walloomsac River () from the Native American name, Wal-loom-sac is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of the Hoosic River in the northeaster ...
northwest of
Bennington, Vermont
Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...
. Built in 1889, it was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1973.
Description and history
The Paper Mill Village Bridge is located adjacent to a former paper mill building, located on the south side of
State Route 67A, just south of the campus of
Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932, , northwest of downtown Bennington. It is a single-span
Town lattice truss structure, long and wide, with a roadway width of (one lane). It rests on stone
abutment
An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...
s that have been partially faced in concrete. The sides are clad in vertical board siding, while the portal ends are finished in horizontal flushboard siding. The side walls only rise part of the way to the roof, which shelters the upper portions of the trusses. A number of the truss members have been doubled to strengthen them, and there are also additional floor beams.
The Paper Mill Bridge was built in 1889 by Charles F. Sears, whose family was prominent in the local bridge-building business. The bridge, which is the longest covered bridge in
Bennington County, is similar in design to the nearby
Silk Covered Bridge, whose design is sometimes attributed to Sears' father Benjamin.
See also
* List of covered bridges in Vermont
Below is a list of covered bridges in Vermont. There are just over 100 authentic covered bridges in the U.S. state of Vermont, giving the state both the highest number of covered bridges per square mile and per capita in the United States, as we ...
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Bennington County, Vermont
*
References
External links
Visitor Information: Paper Mill Village Bridge
— Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce
{{NRHP in Bennington County, Vermont
Buildings and structures in Bennington, Vermont
Bridges completed in 1889
Covered bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Wooden bridges in Vermont
Bridges in Bennington County, Vermont
Tourist attractions in Bennington County, Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Bennington County, Vermont
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Lattice truss bridges in the United States
1889 establishments in Vermont