Skip to main content

Ashuelot Covered Bridge - New Hampshire

Image
By

New Hampshire has dozens of covered bridges that grace their presence throughout the Granite State. One such covered bridge is the Ashuelot Covered Bridge, which spans over the Ashuelot River in the Cheshire County community of Ashuelot. Built by master covered bridge builder Nicholas Powers in 1864 at a length of 169 feet, the bridge is designed in the Town lattice style of covered bridges developed by Ithiel Town in 1820 and was rehabilitated in 1999. The bridge was built of the Ashuelot Covered Bridge is considered by local historians to be one of New Hampshire's most elaborate covered bridges. The original purpose of the bridge was to transport wood across the river for use by the Ashuelot Railroad, as the railroad had a station in the upper village of Ashuelot. Eventually, the bridge was converted for use by motor vehicles. At times. this covered bridge has also been called the Village Bridge or Village Station Bridge.


The beauty of the Ashuelot Covered Bridge, as of other covered bridges, is that it is still carrying out its original purpose, to get people and goods from Point A to Point B. There are covered walkways on each end of the bridge, so pedestrians and the occasional vehicle (the bridge sees an average of 510 vehicles a day) don't have to intermingle. At times, special events take place on the bridge, such as an annual dinner event that takes place. But in the end, the covered bridge is about bridging together the community, both now and then.






How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
Ashuelot Bridge - New Hampshire Covered Bridges
Ashuelot Covered Bridge - Bridgehunter.com
New England: True Northeast; Covered Bridge; Ashuelot, N.H. - New York Times  (June 3, 2001)
Labels:
Location: Ashuelot Covered Bridge, 20 Hampshire Ct, Ashuelot, NH 03441, USA

Comments

Anonymous said…
The Ashuelot covered bridge was NOT built to carry wood across the river for the Ashuelot Railroad. There was plenty of wood on both sides of the railroad. It was built during the Civil War to bring raw materials to the Ashuelot Manufacturing Company that was located on the opposite side of the river and to bring the finished woolen cloths to the railroad. The legend of the "carrying wood" began in the early 1950s when someone speculated in a newspaper article. That legend refuses to die.
12:09 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

By
After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...
4 comments
Read more

New Idria Road to the New Idria ghost town

By
New Idria Road is an approximately 21.5-mile rural highway located in the Diablo Range of San Benito County.  From Panoche Road to approximately 20.6 miles to the south the corridor is maintained as the paved San Benito County Road 107.  The remaining 0.9 miles to the New Idria ghost town are no longer maintained and have eroded into a high clearance dirt roadway.  Upon reaching New Idria the roadway continues south as Clear Creek Road which passes through the Bureau of Land Management owned Clear Creek Management Area.   The New Idria Mercury Mine claim was staked in 1854.  Following the theme set by New Almaden the community and mine of New Idria were named after the famous Slovenian mercury mining town of Idrija.  Following a slow start the mines of New Idria would boom and the community would reach a peak population of approximately 4,000 by 1880.  New Idria Road and Panoche Road were constructed to facilitate stage travel to San Juan Bautista...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more