The Longest Covered Bridges in America
Covered bridges were never built for size — most were modest farm crossings, just long enough to clear a creek or a mill race. But a handful, whether by necessity or ambition, stretched far beyond the norm. Some span wide rivers on multiple trusses stitched end to end; one, built as recently as 2008, was designed specifically to claim the title outright. Here are the longest surviving covered bridges in the country today, ranked by length.
1. Smolen-Gulf Covered Bridge — 613 feet
Ashtabula County, Ohio — crosses the Ashtabula River
The longest covered bridge in the United States isn't a 19th-century survivor at all. Smolen-Gulf was built new in 2008 by Ashtabula County, Ohio — a county that has made a specialty of building genuinely new covered bridges using traditional Pratt truss engineering, largely as a way to keep its historic bridge-building reputation alive after losing several older spans. At 613 feet, it more than doubles the length of the next-longest bridge on this list, and its enclosed pedestrian walkway makes it a popular stop for the county's well-known Covered Bridge Festival.
2. Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge — 449 feet
Sullivan County, New Hampshire — crosses the Connecticut River
The longest wooden covered bridge in the country, and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world, Cornish-Windsor has connected New Hampshire and Vermont since 1866. Built on a Town lattice truss, it remains open to vehicle traffic today, one of only a handful of bridges this size still doing the job it was built for a century and a half ago.
3. Medora Bridge — 434 feet
Jackson County, Indiana — crosses the East Fork White River
The longest historic covered bridge still standing in the United States, Medora Bridge was built in 1875 on a three-span Burr arch truss and remains, even today, an active river crossing in southern Indiana — a state that leads the nation in surviving 19th-century covered bridges.
4. Bath Covered Bridge — 390 feet
Grafton County, New Hampshire — crosses the Ammonoosuc River
Built in 1832 on a four-span Modified Burr truss, Bath is one of New Hampshire's oldest surviving covered bridges as well as one of its longest — a rare combination, since most bridges this old were built shorter and simpler.
5. Williams Bridge — 373 feet
Lawrence County, Indiana — crosses the East Fork White River
A two-span Howe truss bridge built in 1884, Williams shares its river with Medora Bridge upstream, giving one stretch of the East Fork White River two of the longest covered bridges in the country.
6. Knights Ferry Covered Bridge — 355 feet
Stanislaus County, California — crosses the Stanislaus River
The longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi River, Knights Ferry was built in 1864 on a Howe truss to serve California's Gold Rush-era river crossings, and remains the defining covered bridge of the American West.
7. Moscow Covered Bridge — 334 feet
Rush County, Indiana — crosses the Big Flat Rock River
Originally built in 1886, Moscow Covered Bridge was destroyed by a tornado in 2008 and rebuilt to its historic two-span Burr arch design by 2010 — proof that "surviving" sometimes means being brought back from complete destruction.
8. Shieldstown Bridge — 331 feet
Lawrence County, Indiana — crosses the East Fork White River
A third major span on the East Fork White River, Shieldstown was built in 1876 on a two-span Burr arch truss and remains one of Indiana's most substantial historic crossings.
9. West Union Covered Bridge — 315 feet
Parke County, Indiana — crosses Sugar Creek
Built in 1876 on a double Burr arch truss, West Union is one of several major spans crossing Sugar Creek in Parke County — self-billed as the "Covered Bridge Capital of the World" for good reason.
10. Blair Covered Bridge — 292 feet
Grafton County, New Hampshire — crosses the Pemigewasset River
Built in 1870 on a two-span Long truss reinforced with arches, Blair Bridge remains open to vehicle traffic across one of New Hampshire's major rivers.
The rest of the top 20
| Rank | Bridge | State | Length | Built |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Roann Bridge | Indiana | 288 ft | 1877 |
| 12 | Langley Covered Bridge | Michigan | 282 ft | 1887 |
| 13 | Academia Pomeroy Covered Bridge | Pennsylvania | 278 ft | 1902 |
| 13 | Haverhill-Bath Covered Bridge | New Hampshire | 278 ft | 1829 |
| 15 | Deer's Mills Bridge | Indiana | 275 ft | 1878 |
| 16 | Mount Orne Covered Bridge | New Hampshire | 267 ft | 1911 |
| 16 | Bridgeton Covered Bridge | Indiana | 267 ft | 1868 (rebuilt 2006) |
| 18 | Dick Huffman Covered Bridge | Indiana | 265 ft | 1880 |
| 19 | Roseville Covered Bridge | Indiana | 263 ft | 1910 |
| 20 | Potter's Covered Bridge | Indiana | 259 ft | 1871 |
A few patterns worth noting
Indiana dominates this list, claiming nine of the top twenty spots — a reflection of the state's status as the modern-day capital of American covered bridges, with more surviving 19th-century spans than any other. New Hampshire holds its own with five entries, its Connecticut River and Ammonoosuc River crossings among the most substantial in New England. And the list's outlier, Ohio's Smolen-Gulf Bridge, is a reminder that the tradition isn't frozen in the 1800s: it's still very much alive, and in Ohio's case, still setting records.
Lengths reflect the primary covered span as documented in state and National Register sources; multi-span bridges are listed by total covered length.