With only 8 remaining bridges, many Covered Bridges in Connecticut, and the rest of New England, have gone the way of horse and buggy, as modern travel requires wider bridges that can withstand greater loads. The romance of a kissing bridge, hidden from the sight of watchful eyes, is superseded by the need for safety and clear sightlines.

During their heyday in the 1800s, more than 150 covered bridges dotted the landscape of Connecticut and Rhode Island, with many concentrated in the hills of northwestern Connecticut. Since then, fires, floods, and progress have claimed most of these historic structures.

Connecticut’s biggest contribution to the legacy of timber bridges comes from the men who designed and built the bridges. Two common styles are named for the Connecticut men who designed them: Theodore Burr and Ithiel Town. Master bridge builders were more renowned for their work out of state than in the state. Jonathan Walcott, Colonel Ezra Brainerd, Zenas Whiting, and Samuel Mack were the top names in timber bridge building.

Many covered bridges had side windows or openings or siding that did not reach all the way to the ceiling. Railroad-covered bridges did require vents for the smoke. Connecticut once had many of the lesser-known boxed-in bridges, where sides and top all connected. Boxed-in bridges required windows and/or lamps to allow enough light to safely traverse the bridge. The Hartford Toll Bridge was extolled as an engineering marvel, with its windows and skylights in the cupola allowing light and ventilation, and series of lamps that were tended each night. No less spectacular was the fire at Chatfield Hollow State Park bridge that destroyed the bridge.

Connecticut’s first covered bridge was not, as most believed, the 1818 Hartford Toll Bridge, but rather a toll bridge between Preston and Norwich. Records indicate that in 1813 a Norwich town committee was looking into whether to replace or repair the Chelsea Bridge, and they petitioned the Connecticut General Assembly for a safer bridge to span the Shetucket River. The Norwich & Preston Bridge Company was granted the rights and the covered toll bridge operated from 1817 to 1823 when the March floods carried it to the falls.

Photographs were taken in August of 2019.