Skip to main content

Chitwood Covered Bridge

Built in 1926, the Chitwood Covered Bridge is meant to link travelers from an historic alignment of US Highway 20 to the once bustling town of Chitwood. Visible from the old main road between Corvallis and Newport, this bridge is one of the few remaining landmarks of the former Corvallis and Eastern Railroad stop.

At 96 foot long, the Chitwood Covered Bridge is actually the third bridge at this site, with the original bridge having been built in 1893 and a second bridge being built in 1904. But with the wet weather that is often seen in western Oregon, it was determined that a covered bridge would best serve the crossing over the Lower Yaquina River. The covered bridge was restored in 1984 and again in 2014. The Chitwood Covered Bridge is of a Howe Truss design, and features the barn red color, flared sides and semi-elliptical portal arches that are typical of covered bridges found in Lincoln County, Oregon. It is still passable by motorized traffic as well, serving what remains of Chitwood.

Not much goes on in Chitwood anymore. The Chitwood Covered Bridge was once surrounded by several stores, a post office, and several homes. Logging in the area once boomed enough to support not only the stores, but also the Chitwood Dance Hall. Chitwood also became an important rail stop for the steam locomotives traveling from Yaquina to Corvallis, as this was the town where the train engines took on water and fuel, as well as passengers and freight. However, time passed the town by, and after a couple of World Wars, Chitwood became a shell of its former self, with just the covered bridge and a few houses remaining today.






How to Get There:

Sources and Links:
The Covered Bridge Society of Oregon - Chitwood Covered Bridge
Lincoln County, Oregon - Chitwood Bridge
Scenic USA - Oregon - Chitwood Covered Bridge
My South Lane - Chitwood, Oregon
GhostTowns.org - Chitwood

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tulare Lake returns

During the winter of 2023 California experienced one of the wettest seasons in recent decades.  Enough snow and water were deposited into the Sierra Nevada Mountains that the runoff was enough to partially reform Tulare Lake within San Joaquin Valley.  Tulare Lake was once the largest lake west of the Mississippi River by surface area.  Tulare Lake has been largely dried for the past century due to irrigation divisions and upstream impoundments.  This blog will examine the history of Tulare Lake and its recent return.  Pictured as the blog cover is Tulare Lake from 19th Avenue in Kings County during early May 2023.  Tulare Lake can be seen near its maximum extent below on the 1876 P.Y. Baker Map of Tulare County .   Part 1; the history of Tulare Lake Tulare Lake is the largest remnant of Lake Corcoran.  Lake Corcoran once covered much of the entire Central Valley due to being it being located at a in natural low point from where mountain run-off would accumulate.  Lake Corcoran is thou

Former US Route 101 through Sargent

  Sargent is a ghost town and siding of the Southern Pacific Railroad located in southern Santa Clara County.  The original alignment of US Route 101 was aligned through Sargent via what is now known as Old Monterey Road.  Sargent was bypassed gradually due to shifts of the alignment of US Route 101 which occurred during 1941 and 1950.  Pictured as the blog cover is a view on Old Monterey Road which is now no longer accessible to the general public.  Below is a scan of the 1935 Division of Highways Map of Santa Clara County which depicts the original alignment US Route 101 through Sargent.   Part 1; the history of US Route 101 in Sargent Sargent lies on land which was once part of Rancho Juristac.  During 1856 James P. Sargent purchased Rancho Juristac and plotted what was known as Sargent Ranch.  By 1869 the Southern Pacific Railroad coast line reached the relocated town site of Gilroy.  The Southern Pacific Railroad coast line would be constructed through Chittenden Pass by 1871 whic

California State Route 60/Former US Route 60/70 through the Moreno Valley Badlands west to Riverside

This past month I drove California State Route 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands westward towards the City of Riverside.  CA 60 through the Moreno Valley Badlands was once part of the corridors of US Route 60 and US Route 70. The present route of CA 60 is a 70 mile (76 counting multiplex) slice of former US 60 between downtown Los Angeles east to I-10 near Beaumont.  The vast majority of CA 60 aside from a small section in the Moreno Valley Badlands is presently a freeway grade. For me CA 60 holds some personal history as it was the route I used most frequently accessing work sites in the Inland Empire circa 2011-2013.  Despite what many others probably would say I always really enjoyed the Moreno Valley Badlands portion of CA 60.  Considering I frequently worked on US 60 through Arizona and New Mexico the route holds even more appeal.  I even have a CA 60 shield hanging up in my garage. Part 1; History of Roadways in the Moreno Valley Badlands CA 60 between B