Billie Creek Covered Bridge

The Billie Creek Covered Bridge was built in 1895 by Joseph J. Daniels, who won the contract for the bridge's superstructure with a bid of $820, narrowly underbidding rival builder J.A. Britton's $845 offer. Local contractor J.L. Van Fossen built the stone abutments separately, using cut sandstone hauled less than a mile from A.E. Fuel's quarry. The single-span Burr Arch Truss bridge crosses Williams Creek, locally nicknamed "Billie Creek," east of Rockville, and unlike its neighbors at Billie Creek Village, the Beeson and Leatherwood Station bridges, both moved there from elsewhere, this bridge has always stood on its original site. It was built along what later became part of the transcontinental Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, and survived into the modern era because that highway was eventually rerouted around it rather than replacing it outright, sparing it the fate of other bridges on the same road, such as the Howard and Hollandsburg bridges, which were removed. Today the bridge anchors Billie Creek Village, a recreated pioneer-era village and popular destination during the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival, and still carries vehicle traffic, though it is periodically closed for traffic control during village events and evening hours. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1978, the Billie Creek Covered Bridge remains an active, well-loved landmark.