About
The Flint Covered Bridge carries Bicknell Hill Road over the First Branch of the White River in far northern Tunbridge, just south of the Chelsea town line and east of Vermont Route 110. It is a single-span queenpost truss about 87 feet long with a one-lane roadway. It is dated 1845 and is the oldest of Tunbridge's five 19th-century covered bridges.
History
The builder is not known, and the Vermont Covered Bridge Society notes that references give either 1845 or 1874 as the construction date. Milton S. Graton of Ashland, New Hampshire, renovated the bridge in 1969, replacing the siding, adding cable and stringer floor supports and capping the foundations with concrete. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 10, 1974. On August 8, 2019, a box truck that was too tall and over the weight limit struck the bridge, and the Valley News reported it closed with no reopening date set.
Design
A queenpost truss uses two vertical posts joined by a horizontal beam, with diagonal braces running to the ends of the span. The Flint Bridge is noted for its massive queenpost truss and the tension splices in its bottom chords. Iron rods descend from the diagonals, laminated stringers sit below the deck, and steel cables are crossed between deck members for lateral stability. It has vertical board siding, a gabled metal roof and stone abutments faced in concrete.
Visiting
The bridge is on Bicknell Hill Road, just off VT 110. The Town of Tunbridge has announced that the bridge will close for repair for about six weeks starting November 4, 2026, so check with the town before planning to drive across.
Sources: Flint Covered Bridge (Wikipedia), Flint Bridge (Vermont Covered Bridge Society), Tunbridge bridge struck, damaged (Valley News)
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