Loys Station Covered Bridge
Frederick County, near Thurmont. Built 1848, 90 ft. long. Burned down in a 1991 arson-insurance scheme and rebuilt by community fundraising, reopened in 1994.
Loys Station Covered Bridge has carried a road over Owens Creek near Thurmont since 1848, a multiple kingpost span later reinforced with a concrete pier and steel beams between 1929 and 1930. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, a well-loved local landmark surrounded by a small park.
On June 27, 1991, that history nearly ended: a pickup truck was deliberately set on fire while parked inside the bridge, part of an insurance fraud scheme, and the fire consumed the historic structure. Two men were later convicted for the arson and fraud. Rather than let the bridge disappear, the Thurmont community rallied to rebuild it, raising money through T-shirt sales, record-hop fundraisers, and limited-edition prints by a local artist. The three-year, $300,000 reconstruction faithfully recreated the bridge as it looked after its 1930 reinforcement, incorporating original hardware, rafters, and braces salvaged from the fire. Loys Station reopened to the public on July 4, 1994, a rebuilt landmark that stands today as much as a monument to community effort as to its own 1848 origins.