Covered Bridges
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Plants - 1887

  • Plants Bridge
    Plants Bridge
  • Plants Bridge 2
    Plants Bridge 2
  • Plants Bridge 3
    Plants Bridge 3
  • Plants Bridge 4
    Plants Bridge 4
  • Plants Bridge
  • Plants Bridge 2
  • Plants Bridge 3
  • Plants Bridge 4
    • Plants Bridge
    • Plants Bridge 2
    • Plants Bridge 3
    • Plants Bridge 4

     

    The Plants Covered Bridge was constructed using the Kingpost design, built in 1887 but the builder is unknown. It is owned and maintained by the county and is open to vehicular traffic. The bridge is 24 feet 6 inches long and 12 feet 19 inches wide, it crosses Templeton Fork, Wheeling Creek.

     

    Plant's Bridge is a rather short Kingpost truss structure with vertical plank siding and tin-covered gable roof, the Plants Bridge typifies the style of other bridges in Washington County.  Painted barn red inside and out.  It has a deck of crosswise planking and two rectangular windows on each side.  The only reinforcements under the deck are the stone and mortar abutments that extend into short-wing walls.  It is supported entirely by the Kingpost truss system.  Although the exact year of the construction is unknown, it is thought to have been built by Leonard Plants sometime after 1880.  Leonard left his home to apprentice as a carpenter and shortly thereafter was hired to work on the National Road. After his father's death in 1880, Plants returned home and turned the once unproductive land into a successful farm. Given Leonard's background as a carpenter, and considering the improvements he made to the farm upon his return, he is most likely the builder of the Plants Covered Bridge.

     

    Of the 1,500 covered bridges that once stood in the state of Pennsylvania, as of 2019, approximately 200 remain.

     

    Length of largest span: 24.9 ft.
    Total length: 39 ft.
    Deck width: 11.5 ft.
    Vertical clearance above deck: 10.5 ft.

     

    Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1979.

     

    Located at:  N40 01.269    W80 24.968     -     WGCB #38-63-26

    Photographed in May of 2012.

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