Cogan House Covered Bridge

About

Cogan House Covered Bridge carries Campbell Road (Township Road 784) over Larrys Creek in Cogan House Township, Lycoming County, about 1.4 miles south of PA 184. It is a Burr arch truss built in 1877, about 94 ft long, and it carries one lane of traffic on a dead-end road. Lycoming County has officially called it the Buckhorn Bridge since 1998; it has also been known as the Larrys Creek and Day's bridge.

History

Residents petitioned for a bridge in September 1876, and the grand jury approved it on January 23, 1877. Millwright Valentine "Tine" Meyers of Quiggleville framed it in a field beside the sawmill that cut its pine, took it apart, hauled it by ox cart and reassembled it on the stone abutments. On June 1, 1889 it survived a flood that washed out most other Larrys Creek bridges. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1980. Lycoming County rehabilitated it in 1998 for $105,493 and rededicated it on October 30, 1998. In August 2000 an overweight propane truck damaged a timber arch, and the repair contract was awarded in December 2000.

Design

The Burr arch truss pairs timber arches with a multiple kingpost truss. The bridge has rough horizontal pine siding, no steel reinforcement and a cedar shake roof added in 1998, when it was also painted red. Recorded lengths range from 81 ft to 95 ft; the National Bridge Inventory gives 94 ft 2 in. It is the oldest and longest of Lycoming County's three remaining covered bridges.

Visiting

The bridge is on Campbell Road about 0.1 miles past the Covered Bridge Road intersection. As of 2011 it was posted at 8 ft 6 in clearance, 3 tons and 10 mph. The public road ends in a cul-de-sac on the east side, beyond which a gated private road continues toward State Game Lands 114.

Sources: Cogan House Covered Bridge (Wikipedia), Visiting the covered bridges of Lycoming County (Uncovering PA)