Skip to main content

Low's Covered Bridge - Guilford, Maine

 


One of nine historic covered bridges remaining within the state of Maine, the Low's Covered Bridge (also known as the Lowe's Covered Bridge) spans the Piscataquis River of Maine on Lowe's Bridge Road off of ME 6, ME 15 and ME 16 between Guilford and Sangerville, not far west of Dover-Foxcroft. The 130 foot long through truss covered bridge is the fourth covered bridge at this location, having been built in 1990 after a flood washed away the previous bridge on April 1, 1987. A modern covered bridge, patterned after the original bridge, was built on the original abutments in 1990. The replacement bridge was built to have a larger load capacity and the abutments were raised in order to prevent future flood damage. The Low's Covered Bridge has also been named as a national historic landmark.

The Low's Covered Bridge sits adjacent to land once owned by Robert Low, an early settler of Guilford, Maine. In order to make local travel easier for commercial purposes, the towns of Guilford and Sangerville built the original covered bridge in 1830. However, a flood washed away the first bridge in 1832, so the second covered bridge was built in the same location. The second covered bridge washed away in a flood in 1857. I have noticed that 1832 and 1857 were years that brought devastating flooding to covered bridges in northern New England.

The third Low's Covered Bridge was rebuilt in 1857, spanned 130 feet across the scenic Piscataquis River and by modern standards was one lane wide. The foundation and approach to the covered bridge were constructed by Isaac Wharff, who hauled the granite used for the abutments more than 7 miles by oxen team from Guilford Mountain. Leonard Knowlton, who was the bridge's carpenter, used a patented Long truss design which used mathematical calculations to develop a truss design that looked like the letter X. The third covered bridge lasted 130 years until a major flood on April 1, 1987 destroyed the bridge.

Plans to rebuild this treasured local landmark and a tribute to early engineering ingenuity, began as soon as the flood waters along the Piscataquis receded. Ryan-Biggs Associates of New York designed a bridge that replicated the original as closely as possible and strengthened the overall structure bringing it into compliance with current codes and standards. Chesterfield Associates of Westport Island, Maine assembled the new Low's Covered Bridge offsite and more than 1,000 people watched as it was rolled into place on August 23. 1990. The new covered bridge sits on the original stone-masonry abutments that were raised almost 3 feet to reduce the potential for future flood damage.

I visited the Low's Covered Bridge during a trip to Maine over the 4th of July weekend in 2014. The covered bridge wasn't originally on my to-see list for that trip, but since I saw a covered bridge and a place to pull over, I had to stop and take pictures. There is a small picnic area near the bridge to enjoy your surroundings on a nice day. Here are some photos from my visit to the bridge.

Bridge portal on the north bank of the Piscataquis River.

Low's Covered Bridge as seen from the picnic area.

The Villages of Piscataquis County sign is for an audio driving tour that highlights the scenic and historic attractions of Piscataquis County, Maine.

Interpretive storyboard that explains the history of the Low's Covered Bridge.

National Historic Landmark marker.

Looking west at the Piscataquis River. The Piscataquis River flows from small creeks and glacial ponds from its headwaters just south of Greenville for approximately 65 miles to its confluence with the Penobscot River in Howland.

Looking east the Piscataquis River. You can see the small picnic area at the left of the photo.


How to Get There:


Sources and Links:
Bridgehunter.com - Lowe's Covered Bridge 19-11-01 #2
MaineDOT - Lowes Bridge, Guilford-Sangerville, Maine

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old River Lock & Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)

  The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) and its connecting satellite facilities combine to form one of the most impressive flood control complexes in North America. Located along the west bank of the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Red River and Atchafalaya River nearby, this structure system was fundamentally made possible by the Flood Control Act of 1928 that was passed by the United States Congress in the aftermath of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 however a second, less obvious motivation influenced the construction here. The Mississippi River’s channel has gradually elongated and meandered in the area over the centuries, creating new oxbows and sandbars that made navigation of the river challenging and time-consuming through the steamboat era of the 1800s. This treacherous area of the river known as “Turnbull’s Bend” was where the mouth of the Red River was located that the upriver end of the bend and the Atchafalaya River, then effectively an outflow

Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (Memphis, TN)

  Like the expansion of the railroads the previous century, the modernization of the country’s highway infrastructure in the early and mid 20th Century required the construction of new landmark bridges along the lower Mississippi River (and nation-wide for that matter) that would facilitate the expected growth in overall traffic demand in ensuing decades. While this new movement had been anticipated to some extent in the Memphis area with the design of the Harahan Bridge, neither it nor its neighbor the older Frisco Bridge were capable of accommodating the sharp rise in the popularity and demand of the automobile as a mode of cross-river transportation during the Great Depression. As was the case 30 years prior, the solution in the 1940s was to construct a new bridge in the same general location as its predecessors, only this time the bridge would be the first built exclusively for vehicle traffic. This bridge, the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge, was completed in 1949 and was the third

California State Route 203 the proposed Minaret Summit Highway

California State Route 203 is an approximately nine-mile State Highway located near Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Mono County.  California State Route 203 as presently configured begins at US Route 395, passes through Mammoth Lakes and terminates at the Madera County line at Minaret Summit.  What is now California State Route 203 was added to the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 112.  The original Mammoth Lakes State Highway ended at Lake Mary near the site of Old Mammoth and was renumbered to California State Route 203 in 1964.  The modern alignment of the highway to Minaret Summit was adopted during 1967.   The corridor of Minaret Summit and Mammoth Pass have been subject to numerous proposed Trans-Sierra Highways.  The first corridor was proposed over Mammoth Pass following a Southern Pacific Railroad survey in 1901.  In 1931 a corridor between the Minarets Wilderness and High Sierra Peaks Wilderness was reserved by the Forest Service for po