Zook's Mill Covered Bridge

About

Zook's Mill Covered Bridge carries Log Cabin Road over Cocalico Creek west of Brownstown, on the line between Warwick and West Earl townships in Lancaster County. It is a single-span double Burr arch truss built in 1849 and is open to one lane of vehicle traffic. The county's official name for it is Cocalico #7, and it has also been called the Wenger, Rose Hill and Log Cabin bridge.

History

In April 1849 the county advertised for proposals to build a bridge near Henry Zook's mill. The county bridge docket records a price of $700, while a January 1850 newspaper reported a payment of $690. Records show many later repairs, including a $930 overhaul by Elias McMellen in 1892. Zook's Mill, later Wenger's Mill, stood on the Warwick side until 1970, and a fulling mill once worked upstream on the West Earl side. During Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972 the bridge stood under about 6.5 ft of water and survived. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 11, 1980, appeared in the 1978 film The Boys from Brazil, and reopened after a rehabilitation on November 12, 2009.

Design

Steel hanger rods have been added to the Burr arch truss, and the deck is oak plank. The county marker gives the length as 89 ft 1.5 in and the width as 17 ft 3 in; Wikipedia gives 74 ft, and a 2009 report gave 95 ft. The marker also notes that the bridge lacks the hand-hewn timbers and hardware expected in an 1849 structure. It is painted red inside and out, with white trim on the approaches.

Visiting

The bridge is on Log Cabin Road just east of Rose Hill Road, near Ephrata. Vehicles cross one lane at a time.

Sources: Zook's Mill Covered Bridge (Wikipedia), Zook's Mill Bridge marker (HMdb), Rosehill/Wenger bridge reopened (VCBS)