Skip to main content

Pittsburg-Clarksville Covered Bridge (Bacon Bridge) - Pittsburg and Clarksville, New Hampshire

Image
By

One of the more deliciously named covered bridges in the Granite State, the Pittsburg-Clarksville Covered Bridge (also known as Bacon Bridge for its location on Bacon Road) is the furthest north covered bridge situated on the Connecticut River in New Hampshire. The covered bridge crosses the border between the towns of Clarksville and Pittsburg, the latter being better known for being the Snowmobiling Capital of New England and at one time being the short lived Republic of Indian Stream, a small microstate of about 300 citizens during the 1830s.

The Pittsburg-Clarksville Bridge is 89 feet long and built in a Paddleford truss design. This bridge is one of seven covered bridges built in Pittsburg and one of three that remain standing. It is assumed that the bridge was constructed in 1876, by a reference in town records which states "In 1876, money was raised to build a bridge at Fletcher's Mill", with Fletcher's Mill being a sawmill that had existed near the site of the bridge since 1825. Therefore, it is assumed by town officials that this is the date of the present day covered bridge.

There was a payment issue regarding the bridge's construction as well. In 1878, the Town of Clarksville was approached by Pittsburg officials to see what the town would do about paying the Town of Pittsburg for building two thirds of the bridge near Fletcher's Mill. Clarksville voted not to pay the Town of Pittsburg anything for the bridge's construction at that time. It was rehabilitated in 1974 at a cost of $6,700, with the costs of rehabilitation being shared between the towns of Pittsburg and Clarksville, along with the State of New Hampshire. Now eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the Pittsburg-Clarksville Bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1981, but you can still walk across the bridge as a pedestrian. There is a small waterfall known as Fletcher Falls and the remains of the old mill that you can view from the bridge itself.









How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
Pittsburg-Clarksville Bridge - New Hampshire Covered Bridges (NHDOT)
Covered Bridges of the White Mountains - White Mountains New Hampshire
Clarksville Covered Bridge - Bridgehunter.com

Labels:
Location: Pittsburg-Clarksville Covered Bridge, 1413 Main St, Pittsburg, NH 03592, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
2 comments
Read more

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more