The 1862 Johnson Creek Covered Bridge is located near Blue Licks Battlefield State Park in Robertson County, Kentucky. 

This bridge is currently closed to vehicular traffic. The bridge is important as the only known example of Robert Smith's truss system in Kentucky and the only covered bridge extant known to have been built by Jacob N. Bower (1819-1906).

The bridge was constructed in 1874 and is one of thirteen that remains of more than four hundred covered bridges that once were in Kentucky. Around 1912, Jacob Bower's son, Louis, added an arch on each side to support increased traffic using the bridge. The bridge is 114 feet long and 16 feet wide, according to Louis Bower, grandson of Jacob Bower and a local covered bridge builder.

Later generations have advanced numerous reasons for the construction of covered bridges, but the historical reason for their existence was the maintenance of structural integrity. The cover allowed timbered trusses and braces to season properly and kept water out of the joints, prolonging their lives by seven to eight times that of an uncovered bridge.

Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on September 27, 1976.

Located at:  N38 28.913    W83 58.694     -     WGCB #17-101-01

Photographed in September 2021