About
Erskine Covered Bridge crosses Middle Wheeling Creek on Erskine Road in West Finley Township, Washington County, south of West Alexander. It stands about one tenth of a mile from the West Virginia border.
History
William Gordon built the bridge in 1845, and Uncovering PA describes it as the oldest covered bridge in Washington County. It takes its name from the Erskine family, who owned the surrounding land. After Robert Erskine died in 1872, the family leased much of the land to a mining company in the 1880s to pay debts. The bridge survived the strip mining and the floods of 1888, and it was reconstructed in 2006. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1979, as part of the Covered Bridges of Washington and Greene Counties listing.
Design
Erskine is a queenpost truss bridge about 39 feet 6 inches long and 11 feet 8 inches wide.
Visiting
The county owns and maintains the bridge, which is open to vehicles. It lies less than three miles south of Interstate 70, and a road branching off just before the bridge has room for a few cars to park.
Sources: Erskine Covered Bridge, coveredbridges.net, Erskine Covered Bridge, Wikipedia, Washington County covered bridges, Uncovering PA
Photo: Stuart Haller, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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