Sequin - 1850
The 1850 Seguin Covered Bridge, also called the Upper Covered Bridge, is a wooden covered bridge that crosses Lewis Creek in Charlotte, Chittenden County, Vermont on Roscoe Road. Seguin Bridge is a distinctive variant of a Burr arch design.
A sign posted on the bridge by the Town of Charlotte identifies the name of the bridge as "Seguin" (with a letter "G") for one of the families who owned land surrounding it. It was listed on the National Register as "Sequin" (with the letter "Q"), an error that has since propagated widely.
The bridge is a single-span Burr arch design, 71 feet long and 16.5 feet wide, with a roadway width of 13 feet (one lane). It rests on stone abutments that have been mortared and faced in concrete. The trusses consist of vertical posts and diagonal bracing, flanked on either side by laminated arches. The exterior is finished in vertical board siding, which extends around to the insides of the portals. The siding ends short of the gabled roof, leaving an opening between the two.
Built by an unknown builder; it is one of three surviving covered bridges in the town of Charlotte, and one of nine in the state with the Burr arch design. Extensive repairs were made in 1949 and again in 1994; the latter repairs being made by Paul Ide and Jan Lewandoski. A new roof was added in 2001.
Seguin Bridge was closed for rehabilitation through the late summer and fall of 2016 when the bridge underwent major rehabilitation. This work raised concerns among bridge preservationists, as it included alterations that put at risk the bridge's distinctive overhead bracing, which is not found on other bridges in the state. Alterations also include rebuilding the road deck to increase the weight limit to seven tons (from the previous five).
Of the over 500 covered bridges that were built in the state of Vermont, as of 2019, only 104 remain.
Length of largest span: 64 ft.
Total length: 71.9 ft.
Deck width: 12.5 ft.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Located at: N44 17.338 W73 09.009 - WGCB #45-04-02
Photographed in July of 2019.