Skip to main content

Pierce Bridge - Bethlehem, New Hampshire

Image
By

 


Built by the American Bridge Company in 1928 as a means to usher traffic on the Teddy Roosevelt Trail, and later US 302, the Pierce Bridge in Bethlehem, New Hampshire is a historic steel truss bridge that spans across the Ammonoosuc River. After devastating floods in 1927, new bridges needed to be quickly constructed to get travelers to the White Mountains, which was as much as a tourist destination then as it is today. One of the bridges constructed was the Pierce Bridge, a 140 foot long bridge in the design of high truss bridges with its vertical members in compression and diagonal beams in tension. It was said that this style of bridge was easy to construct and had been proven to be strong and sturdy.

After the Pierce Bridge was constructed, it became a destination for travelers, for people who wanted to fish the Ammoonoosuc River for its trout and for Civilian Conversation Corps (CCC) workers who worked in the area during the Great Depression. For a few years, there was a CCC camp known as Gale River Camp No. 2118 that was located near the Pierce Bridge starting in 1933. The CCC workers that worked around Pierce Bridge built bridges along the Ammonoosuc and Zealand Rivers, truck trails and also hiking trails up Mount Washington. So it can be said that the Pierce Bridge played a small, yet significant role in American history and progress.

By the time 1983 rolled around, the Pierce Bridge was bypassed by a new bridge on US 302 to help meet modern traffic demands. However, the old Pierce Bridge remains next to the new bridge. It is no longer open for vehicular traffic, but pedestrians are welcome to explore the old bridge and view the surroundings.











How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
Bridgehunter.com - Pierce Bridge
North Country Scenic Byways - River Heritage Trail
Bethlehem Heritage Society - CCC Camp #2118 at Pierce Bridge
Wanderlust Family Adventure - Pierce Bridge Historic Marker – Bethlehem, New Hampshire
BustedOarLock.com - Ammonoosuc River New Hampshire Flows, Fishing and Paddling
Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University - Theodore Roosevelt International Highway
Labels:
Location: Pierce Bridge, Bethlehem, NH 03574, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

By
Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue.  Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue.  During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange.  This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned.  Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains.   The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road.  This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection.  Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...
Post a Comment
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

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