The 1850 Bells Mills Covered Bridge spanning Sewickley Creek in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Oddly, the length of this bridge is undetermined ranging between 90 - 107 feet. This historic Burr truss bridge's horizontal clapboard is painted inside and out with the barn red color that is common throughout Pennsylvania. With a cedar shakes roof, the deck has lengthwise planking in wide tire track areas that are laid over crosswise planking. There are no side openings other than the rather wide, typical, lengthwise eave openings.

This is Westmoreland County's only surviving wood truss bridge. With a low-pitched gable roof, it features Tuscan piers at the portals. Designed and built by Daniel McCain, arches were added to the multiple kingpost truss to create a longer and stronger bridge. Modern engineers believe that the multiple king-post truss is a system for keeping Burr's slender arches properly aligned and preventing them from buckling.

The bridge underwent complete restoration in 1988 and was repaired again in 2009 after a fire. The day before I was there the brand new $600 6FT 6IN height limit sign was damaged again, a rather common event I was told by a neighbor.

The bridge was added to the National Historic Register in 1980. 

Located at:  N40 13.15   W79 42.62   -   WGCB #38-65-1

Photographed in May 2023