Smith Rapids Covered Bridge

Smith Rapids Covered Bridge spans the South Fork of the Flambeau River on Rustic Road 105, tucked inside the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest near Fifield in Price County. Completed in 1991 as part of a recreational and forest access improvement project, the bridge was deliberately designed to echo the covered bridges of an earlier era, using a Town lattice truss pattern — the diamond-shaped design patented by Ithiel Town in 1820 — even though it was engineered with thoroughly modern glue-laminated timber construction, making it the only bridge of its kind in Wisconsin. The design earned an engineering award in 1992.

The bridge anchors the Smith Rapids Picnic Area, a day-use site with picnic tables, a grill, drinking water, vault toilets, river and stream fishing, and carry-in boat access, and it sits alongside the Smith Rapids Saddle Trail, built with equestrians in mind. Remote enough that many visitors describe finding it as something of a discovery, the bridge is one of just two Wisconsin covered bridges built after the state's original 19th-century wave — a modern structure that nonetheless captures the same rustic character that once defined more than 40 crossings statewide.