About
Mays Covered Bridge, also called Mays Blaney or Blaney Mays Covered Bridge, carries Waynesburg Road over Middle Wheeling Creek in Donegal Township, southwest of Claysville and southeast of West Alexander. Washington County owns and maintains it, and it is open to vehicle traffic. Its World Guide number is 38-63-23. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1979, under the name Blaney Mays Covered Bridge.
History
The bridge dates to 1882. Apart from that date its origins are unrecorded, and the builder is unknown. It is believed to be named for J. Blaney, who once owned land east of the bridge. Repairs were made in the early 1900s, but much of the original pine siding was still in place in 1952. The bridge was refurbished in 2006.
Design
Mays is a queenpost truss. Coveredbridges.net gives a total length of 31 feet 6 inches and a width of 11 feet 10 inches; Dale Travis lists 40 feet. It is painted barn red inside and out, with vertical plank siding, a tin covered gable roof, stone and mortar abutments and timber trestles resting in the streambed.
Visiting
The bridge sits on a remote gravel township road in a secluded valley. Dale Travis gives these directions: from Main Street in West Alexander, go east 0.3 miles from Maple Avenue, turn southwest onto Lynn Street for 0.2 miles, then go south on Waynesburg Road 1.2 miles to the bridge.
Sources: Mays Blaney Covered Bridge, coveredbridges.net, Mays Blaney, Dale J. Travis Covered Bridge Photos, National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington County, Pennsylvania
Photo: Jerrye and Roy Klotz, MD, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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