Small wooden covered bridge is the only 19th-century covered bridge in the state built using wooden Howe trusses and carrying a public roadway

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Overview

Gold Brook Covered Bridge, also known as Stowe Hollow Bridge or Emily's Bridge, is a small wooden covered bridge in the town of Stowe, Vermont, carrying Covered Bridge Road over Gold Brook. Built in 1844, it is the only 19th-century covered bridge in the state built using wooden Howe trusses and carrying a public roadway. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Description and history

The Gold Brook Covered Bridge is located in the Stowe Hollow area of southeastern Stowe, carrying Covered Bridge Road across Gold Brook just north of a junction with Gold Brook Road and Stowe Hollow Road. The bridge is a single-span Howe truss, 48.5 feet (14.8 m) long and 17 feet (5.2 m) wide, with a roadway width of 13.5 feet (4.1 m). It is covered by a gabled metal roof and rests on dry-laid stone abutments. The exterior is sheathed in vertical board siding, which extends most of the way to the eaves, leaving a narrow strip open at the top. The siding extends around the portals and a short way to their insides. The bridge decking is wooden planking.

The bridge was built about 1844 by John W. Smith, and is the state's only surviving example of a Howe truss in timber on a public roadway. It is also a comparatively early example of the truss type in general; the Howe truss was patented in 1840. It is furthermore the only surviving 19th-century covered bridge in the town of Stowe.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gold Brook Covered Bridge", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0