Crooks Covered Bridge

The Crooks Covered Bridge, sometimes called the Walker Adams Bridge, is one of the two oldest covered bridges in Parke County, generally dated to 1856, though some historical accounts place its original construction as late as 1860. It was built by Henry Wolf and originally crossed what is now called Molasses Creek before being rebuilt and relocated to its present crossing of Little Raccoon Creek, a move variously dated to 1867 or 1872 and credited to either General Arthur Patterson or J.J. Daniels, reflecting genuine gaps and contradictions in the surviving historical record. The single-span Burr Arch Truss structure, about five miles southeast of Rockville near Bridgeton, was damaged in the great flood of 1875 and subsequently repaired. Today it carries local traffic under a posted four-ton load limit and is a stop on the county's "Red Route" driving tour. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1978, as part of the Parke County Covered Bridges Multiple Property Submission, the Crooks Covered Bridge remains a working span and, alongside Portland Mills, a touchstone for the county's earliest bridge-building history.