Skip to main content

Mechanic Street Covered Bridge - Lancaster, New Hampshire

Image
By

 


Nestled in the beautiful Great North Woods Region of New Hampshire's Coös County is the Mechanic Street Covered Bridge in the village of Lancaster, New Hampshire. The Mechanic Street Covered Bridge is located just east of US Route 2 and US Route 3, just past the downtown core of Lancaster. The bridge is also known as the Israels River Covered Bridge, owing to the name of the river that it crosses over. Using a Paddleford truss design that is common with many covered bridges in Northern New England, this bridge was built in 1862 at a length of 94 feet and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also considered to be number 31 out of the 54 historic covered bridges that have been assigned an official number by the State of New Hampshire.

Shortly after the bridge's construction in 1862, the residents of Lancaster at the time instructed the town's selectmen to erect a sign board at each end of the bridge that prohibited driving (probably by horse and buggy or wagon at the time) across the bridge at a pace faster than a walk. This action is said to have contributed to the bridge's longevity. But like all bridges, the Mechanic Street Covered Bridge has needed repairs and reconstruction over the years. In 1962, Lancaster requested the State of New Hampshire to provide an estimated cost for rehabilitating the Mechanic Street Covered Bridge. The total cost of rehabilitation was estimated to be $18,000, of which $10,800 was to be the responsibility of the Town of Lancaster with the remainder to be furnished by the State of New Hampshire. The town took no action on this estimate at their annual town meeting that year, however, the abutments were repaired in 1967 by the State of New Hampshire. The bridge was closed from 2004 to 2006 to correct a number of safety issues that had mounted over the years. The repairs to the bridge cost about $750,000, with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation providing $600,000 with the town paying the rest of the money.

I think that a nice job was done on the restoration of this covered bridge. During a springtime trip to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and northern New Hampshire, I passed through Lancaster during my journey. I decided to check out the Mechanic Street Covered Bridge for myself and I find it to be a nice centerpiece for the town. Its idyllic location over the Israel River enhances the beauty of the covered bridge.









How to Get There:




Sources and Links:
Northern Gateway - Bridges of Coos County
Bridgehunter.com - Mechanic Street Covered Bridge 29-04-06
NHTourGuide.com - Mechanic Street Bridge Lancaster NH
New Hampshire Bridges - Mechanic Street Bridge
Vermont's Covered Bridges - Covered Bridge Community News Notes - 2006
Brad Prendergast Photography - New Hampshire Covered Bridge #31

Labels:
Location: Mechanic Street Covered Bridge, 71 Mechanic St, Lancaster, NH 03584, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1915-era Teilman Bridge (the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge in California)

By
The Teilman Bridge is a semi-abandoned structure over Fresno Slough west of Burrell siding near the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and Elkhorn Grade.  This structure is the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge constructed in California and was designed by Ingvart Teilman.  Teilman's Bridge would open in late 1915 when the Elkhorn Grade was the primary road between Fresno and Coalinga.  The structure would be replaced in 1991 but was left standing as it carries pipelines over Fresno Slough.  Part 1; the history of the Teilman Bridge In the early Twentieth Century the most direct highway between Fresno and Coalinga followed the Elkhorn Grade.  The Elkhorn Grade began at Fresno Slough a short distance west of Burrell siding.  From Fresno Slough the Elkhorn Grade followed a generally southwestern course through San Joaquin Valley into the Kettleman Hills towards Coalinga.   The Elkhorn Grade can be seen on the  1914 C.F. Weber map of Fresno Coun...
1 comment
Read more

The Dummy Lights of New York

By
  A relic of the early days of motoring, dummy lights were traffic lights  that  were  placed  in the middle of a street intersection. In those early days, traffic shuffled through busy intersections with the help of a police officer who stood on top of a pedestal. As technology improved and electric traffic signals became commonplace, they were also  originally  positioned on a platform at the center of the intersection. Those traffic signals became known as  " dummy lights "  and were common until  traffic lights were moved  onto wires and poles that crossed above the intersection.  In New York State, only a handful of these dummy lights exist. The dummy lights  are found  in the Hudson Valley towns of Beacon and Croton-on-Hudson, plus there is an ongoing tug of war in Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley, where their dummy light has been knocked down and replaced a few times. The dummy light in Canajoharie is currently...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prunedale Road (Monterey County)

By
Prunedale Road is a short 2.6-mile-long frontage corridor of US Route 101 in the namesake Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Prior to 1932 US Route 101 bypassed Prunedale in favor of the San Juan Grade to the east.  Prunedale Road along with nearby Moro Road served as an alternative connecting highway between Salinas and San Juan Bautista.  Following the realignment of US Route 101 onto the Prunedale Cutoff the former through route along Prunedale Road would be rendered as a western frontage.   Part 1; the history of Prunedale Road Prunedale Road is located in and is named after the Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Said community was founded near the junction of San Migeul Canyon, Langley Canyon and Echo Valley.  Watsonville settler Charles Langley (namesake of Langley Canyon) was one of the prominent early community settlers.  The Prunedale Post Office would open for the first time in 1894 but would close by 1908.  Early agricu...
Post a Comment
Read more