Rolling Stone Covered Bridge

Rolling Stone Covered Bridge, built in 1915 by Joseph Albert Britton, carries a county road over Big Walnut Creek about two miles north of U.S. 36 within the Big Walnut Natural Area, near the Baker's Camp and Pine Bluff bridges. The single-span Burr Arch truss is 103 feet long, 16 feet wide, and rests on concrete abutments beneath a sheet-metal roof. Its name comes from a large boulder that once sat in the creek bed below, rolled about by the current until it was eventually removed to protect the bridge's foundations. In May 2023, county engineers closed Rolling Stone Bridge for roughly a month after inspections found structural beam deterioration caused by roof water infiltration — the same issue that closed the nearby Cornstalk Bridge that spring. The Putnam County Highway Department fabricated temporary structural plates to reopen the bridge under a reduced load limit while a fuller restoration was planned. Rolling Stone Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2024, one of all nine Putnam County covered bridges added in the countywide nomination prepared by the Putnam County Heritage Preservation Society and Indiana Landmarks.