Bean Blossom Covered Bridge
Brown County, Jackson Township, near Beanblossom. Built 1880, 60 ft. long. Modified Howe truss over Beanblossom Creek; the oldest covered bridge still standing at its original site in Indiana.
Bean Blossom Covered Bridge was built in 1880 by Captain Joseph Balsey for $1,200, using a modified Howe through-truss design, to carry the main road between Beanblossom and Nashville across Beanblossom Creek. At 60 feet long, it is one of only three modified Howe through-truss bridges surviving in Indiana and is recognized as the oldest covered bridge still standing at its original location in the state (the older Ramp Creek Bridge, built in 1838, was relocated from Putnam County in 1932, so it no longer occupies its original site). The bridge carried through traffic until 1936, when the realignment of State Road 135 bypassed it, leaving it on a quieter local road. By the fall of 1967 deterioration forced its closure to traffic. A preservation campaign led by nearby farm owners Doris and Mario Panicci raised support for significant repairs, and the bridge reopened. It has continued to receive maintenance in the decades since and remains a well-known Brown County landmark on Covered Bridge Road, still passable by light vehicle and foot traffic today.
