Saville Covered Bridge

About

Saville Covered Bridge crosses Big Buffalo Creek in Saville Township, Perry County, southwest of Ickesburg. It is a Burr arch truss bridge dated to about 1903, and it sits on State Route 4001 (Legislative Route 50037 in the 1980 National Register record). Wikipedia and the National Register give a length of 60 ft. Covered bridge databases list a longer overall length of 72 to 73 ft.

History

The bridge was built around 1903, and the National Register nomination credits L. M. Wentzel with the design. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1980, as one of a group of Perry County covered bridges nominated together. The World Guide to Covered Bridges number for the current structure is 38-50-07 #2, and dalejtravis.com records that the bridge was rebuilt in 2007.

Design

A Burr arch truss pairs a long timber arch on each side of the bridge with a multiple kingpost truss, and the two are bolted together so they share the load. Saville's deck is recorded at about 13 ft wide, with about 11.5 ft of vertical clearance.

Visiting

From Ickesburg, take PA 17 southwest about 3 miles from its junction with PA 74, then turn northwest on SR 4001 and go about 0.9 mile to the bridge. The bridge is on a public state road in a rural part of the township.

Sources: Saville Covered Bridge (Wikipedia), Saville Covered Bridge (coveredbridges.net), Saville bridge 38-50-07 (dalejtravis.com)

Photo: Smallbones, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.