Skip to main content

West Liberty Street Covered Bridge - Geneva, Ohio

Image
By


 
Ashtabula County, Ohio boasts both the longest and shortest covered bridges currently standing in the United States, just a mere twelve miles apart from each other. The shorter of the bridges is the West Liberty Street Covered Bridge, located in Geneva, Ohio. The covered bridge spans 18 feet in length and was built in 2011 to replace a damaged culvert. The bridge uses a single kingpost truss and was the first modern kingpost timber covered bridge in Ashtabula County. With exception of the railings for the sidewalk, the covered bridge is a bit more open than many longer spans, but also features a roof with a more pronounced slope than many other covered bridges. A toll booth was also built to pay homage to the days when a toll collector was stationed at many a covered bridge.

It was in October 2007 when Geneva city manager Jim Pearson announced a plan to build the shortest covered bridge in the United States in the city. Since Ashtabula County is known for its wide array of covered bridges, the thought was to honor this fact and build something that brings people to the area. The city of Geneva really tried to bring the local community together with the construction of the covered bridge. John Smolen, a former Ashtabula County engineer and founder of Smolen Engineering in Jefferson, Ohio, designed the West Liberty Street Covered Bridge. A local mill processed the wood that, and roofing materials came in as a donation. Wood used in the construction of the covered bridge was selected from locally sourced oak, maple and poplar trees. Students from the Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus built the covered bridge in a modular fashion.

I had the chance to visit the West Liberty Street Covered Bridge and visit this quirky little spot. I appreciate the outside the box thinking in transforming a standard culvert into something memorable that the entire community can be proud of and enjoy, whether they drive a car, ride a bike or walk along the bridge's sidewalks.






How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
Ashtabula County Barn Quilt Trail - West Liberty Street, Geneva
Ohio Magazine - Nation’s Shortest Covered Bridge, Geneva 
Ashtabula County, Ohio Visitors Bureau - West Liberty Street Covered Bridge
The Historical Marker Database - Liberty Street Covered Bridge
Labels:
Location: W Liberty St, Geneva, OH 44041, 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

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

Zayante Road and Upper Zayante Road

By
The combined 11-mile corridor Zayante Road and Upper Zayante Road is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Felton in Santa Cruz County.  The corridor begins as Zayante Road at Graham Hill Road near the Felton Covered Bridge.  Zayante Road passes through the namesake community of Zayante where it becomes Upper Zayante Road upon intersecting Old Mountain Road.  Upper Zayante Road makes a final ascent to California State Route 35 at Summit Road via a grade which peaks at an incline of 11%. Zayante Road was built as a frontage of the South Pacific Coast Railroad in 1879.  As originally configured Zayante Road terminated a short distance north of Zayante Station.  Zayante Station itself was commissioned in 1891 to service the resort at Gibbs Ranch.  Upper Zayante Road would later be constructed in the first decade of the Twentieth Century as a continuation of Zayante Road to Summit Road.   Part 1; the history of Zayante Road and Upper Zayante Road B...
Post a Comment
Read more