Pine Bluff Covered Bridge
Putnam County, Jackson Township, near Carpentersville. Built 1915 (also cited as 1886), 211 ft. long, two spans — one of the longest Howe trusses in the county.
Pine Bluff Covered Bridge carries County Road 900 North over Big Walnut Creek deep within the Big Walnut Natural Area in northern Putnam County's Jackson Township. Built by prolific local bridgewright Joseph Albert Britton, the double-span Howe truss measures 211 feet between portals — about 233 feet including its overhangs — supported by concrete abutments and a center pier roughly 25 feet above the creek. Sources differ on its construction date: the county's 2023 National Register nomination documents 1886, while Wikipedia, Putnam County tourism materials, and the historical marker at the site date the bridge to 1915; both agree it is one of the longest Howe truss spans in the county. The bridge's heavy oak X-braced trusses, tightened with paired iron rods, exemplify the Howe truss patented by William Howe in 1840. Unlike several of its sister bridges, Pine Bluff had not undergone a full restoration in the decade before its 2023 National Register nomination, though it continued to carry local vehicular traffic across the creek. Pine Bluff Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2024 as part of the countywide nomination covering all nine of Putnam County's historic covered bridges.
