Kingsley Covered Bridge

About

The Kingsley Covered Bridge carries East Street over the Mill River in East Clarendon, west of Vermont Route 103 and just below the Rutland Airport landing strip. It is a single-span Town lattice truss bridge, 121 feet long, built about 1870. It is also known as the Mill River Bridge. The bridge carries one lane of vehicle traffic and is Clarendon's only remaining covered bridge.

History

The National Register nomination dates the bridge to about 1870, although a sign on the bridge gives 1836. The builder is recorded as Timothy K. Horton. The bridge takes its name from a family that ran a mill nearby, and it is a contributing property in the Kingsley Grist Mill Historic District. It was closed for repairs in 1950, and closed again in 1985 for a restoration that added steel cables at all four corners for lateral support; it reopened in May 1987. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 1974. Alpine Construction carried out a $2.7 million restoration over nearly 14 months in 2023 and 2024, with a setback from the July 2023 flooding. A reopening celebration was held on July 25, 2024.

Design

The Town lattice truss is a close web of crisscrossed planks. The Kingsley bridge is 17.5 feet wide overall with a 14-foot, one-lane roadway. Its core framework is still the original design.

Visiting

The bridge is on East Street, reached by East Street Extension off Gorge Road. The road is paved up to the bridge and becomes dirt beyond it. It is open to cars and foot traffic. Parking is scarce, and the south side is posted against trespassing to protect private property.

Sources: Kingsley Covered Bridge (Wikipedia), Kingsley Covered Bridge (Vermont Covered Bridge Society), Kingsley Covered Bridge reopening (Mountain Times)

Photo: Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.