Campbell's Covered Bridge

Campbell's Covered Bridge is the only covered bridge left standing anywhere in South Carolina, crossing Beaverdam Creek off Pleasant Hill Road near the small community of Gowensville in northeastern Greenville County. Built in 1909 by Charles Irwin Willis, the bridge was named for Alexander Lafayette Campbell, who built and operated a grist mill nearby for many years. It was one of four covered bridges built in this corner of northern Greenville County during the first decade of the 20th century, at a time when the only alternative crossing over Beaverdam Creek was a narrow, unreliable rock shoal.

The bridge's construction transformed local travel: a 25-mile round trip that had once taken a full day before the bridge existed could be made in about an hour afterward, tightening the connections between several small rural communities in the area. Built as a four-span Howe truss with counter braces — two outer spans of 9 feet and two inner spans of 8 feet, all under a metal roof — the 35-foot bridge was closed to motorized traffic in the early 1980s and has since been restored twice, first by the Crescent Garden Club in 1964 and again in 1990. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 and remains under the care of Greenville County as the last of its kind in the state.