Vermont
With 100 remaining Covered Bridges, per square mile, there are more Covered Bridges in Vermont than in any other state in the U.S. Vermont’s covered bridges are landmark centerpieces of a quaint setting of rural New England.
During the 19th century, the number of covered bridges in Vermont was over 700. The horrendous flooding of 1927 destroyed approximately 100 covered bridges. Thirty-five covered bridges once spanned the Connecticut River. By 1940, as the automobile became the primary mode of transportation, less than 200 covered bridges endured. Documentation efforts record that by 1996, only 106 covered bridges remained in Vermont.
The Federal Highway Administration completed a study identifying all existing covered bridges dating from the 1820s to 1987 in thirty states. The survey recorded that Pennsylvania and Ohio retained the most (227 and 143, respectively). Vermont was ranked third nationally with 100, dating from 1820 to 1982. Vermont has the most covered bridges per square mile than any other state. Ninety of those covered bridges have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2014, Brown Bridge (1880) in Shrewsbury was recognized as a National Historic Landmark because it is an outstanding example of Town lattice truss and was the last bridge built by the preeminent bridgewright Nichols Powers.
In the recent past, Vermont has become dedicated to its preservation. Vermont law now protects all covered bridges and none can be torn down without the permission of the Governor and the Board of Historic Sites.
Photographs were taken in July of 2019.