The Bridge That Burned in Nine Minutes
The Kapellbrücke in Lucerne is the world's oldest surviving covered truss bridge — and it nearly burned to nothing in nine minutes on an August night in 1993.
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American Covered Bridges
Read our latest blog posts on covered bridges in the U.S
The Howe Truss: How a Few Iron Rods Changed the Covered Bridge
William Howe's 1840 truss put adjustable iron rods inside a wooden bridge. Here's how it worked, why railroads loved it, and where you can still walk through one.
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Ithiel Town Sold Bridges by the Foot
Ithiel Town patented the lattice truss in 1820 and charged a dollar a foot to use it. The design let ordinary carpenters build long-span covered bridges out of cheap plank — and it's still holding up traffic today.
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The Oldest Covered Bridge in America
Hyde Hall in New York and Hassenplug in Pennsylvania are both dated 1825. Ohio and a second Pennsylvania bridge also claim the title. Here is what the record supports.
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America Didn't Invent the Covered Bridge
Switzerland, China, and Canada were roofing their bridges too — and in some cases centuries before Pennsylvania got around to it. A look at three covered bridges outside the United States.
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Arson, Floods, and Box Trucks: How America Keeps Losing Covered Bridges
Fire, flood, and oversize trucks have taken hundreds of America's covered bridges. A look at how they're lost — Bridgeton, Bartonsville, Old Blenheim — and what actually saves the rest.
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Theodore Burr Died Broke. His Bridges Are Still Standing.
Theodore Burr invented the arch truss that carries more than half of Pennsylvania's surviving covered bridges, then died penniless in an unmarked grave in 1822. The story of his patent, his record 360-foot McCall's Ferry span, and the bridges that outlasted him.
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Why the West's Covered Bridge Country Is in Oregon
Lane County, Oregon holds more covered bridges than anywhere west of the Mississippi — most of them built in the 1920s–40s for logging trucks, from the Chambers Railroad Bridge to Westfir's 180-foot Office Bridge.
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The Longest Wooden Bridge in the World Is a California Swimming Hole
The Bridgeport Covered Bridge in Nevada County, California — built in 1862 for a Gold Rush toll road — holds the longest clear single span of any surviving wooden covered bridge in the world, and reopened in 2021 after a $6.9 million restoration.
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The Real Bridges of Madison County
The six real covered bridges behind Robert James Waller's 60-million-copy novel — including the Roseman's ghost story and the Cedar Bridge, burned by arsonists twice and rebuilt twice.
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The Best Covered Bridges to See This Fall
Where to see America's covered bridges at their fall best, region by region — from New Hampshire's Cornish-Windsor Bridge to Indiana's Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County.
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Covered Bridges You Can Still Drive Through
Most surviving covered bridges are pedestrian relics now, but roughly 250 across 18 states still carry real vehicle traffic — from Ohio's 613-foot Smolen-Gulf Bridge to a 200-year-old Pennsylvania span.
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