Ashtabula County, Ohio has 19 covered bridges, according to Visit Ashtabula County, the most public covered bridges of any county in Ohio. They include the longest covered bridge in the United States, Smolen-Gulf, and the shortest, West Liberty Street. The Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival is held each October during the second week of the month at the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds in Jefferson.

This guide groups all 19 Ashtabula County bridges, every one of them in our directory, into four driving loops by area. Each loop lists its bridges in a sensible order to drive them, with a map link for every stop. The county mixes 19th-century Town lattice and Howe truss bridges with seven new covered bridges it has built since 1983, most of them designed by former county engineer John Smolen. Of the 19, 16 are open to cars.

Quick facts

• Longest: Smolen-Gulf Covered Bridge, 613 ft over the Ashtabula River, opened in 2008. It is the longest covered bridge in the United States. See our list of the longest covered bridges in America.
• Shortest: West Liberty Street Covered Bridge in Geneva, 18 ft, built in 2011, which the county calls the shortest covered bridge in the United States.
• Oldest: Mechanicsville Road Covered Bridge and Windsor Mills Covered Bridge, both from 1867. Mechanicsville Road, at 156 ft, is also the longest single-span covered bridge in the county.
• Longest historic bridge: Harpersfield Covered Bridge, 228 ft in two spans over the Grand River, built in 1868. It was once the longest covered bridge in Ohio and is now second to Smolen-Gulf.

Western loop: Geneva and the Grand River

Five bridges in the western half of the county. Start in Geneva at West Liberty Street, then follow the Grand River upstream past Harpersfield, at an Ashtabula County MetroPark, Mechanicsville Road and Riverdale Road. Windsor Mills, in the county's southwest corner, is a longer drive south.

Jefferson loop: Mill Creek

Four bridges over Mill Creek around Jefferson, the county seat and home of the festival. Doyle Road is from 1868; Giddings Road and Netcher Road are modern county builds from the 1990s. South Denmark Road was bypassed in 1975 and is open to walkers only.

Ashtabula River loop

Five bridges along the Ashtabula River south and east of the city of Ashtabula. Smolen-Gulf and the Riverview pedestrian bridge stand together at Indian Trails Park, with Riverview directly below Smolen-Gulf. Olin, Benetka Road and Root Road are older Town lattice bridges, dating from 1868 to about 1900, farther upstream.

Northeast loop: Conneaut Creek and Pierpont

Five bridges in the northeast corner. Three cross Conneaut Creek near Conneaut, then the route heads south to Pierpont Township for Graham Road, which now stands in a small roadside park, and Caine Road.

Other Ashtabula County bridges

All 19 of the county's public covered bridges are in the loops above. The 1862 Forman Road bridge was sold in 1973 and cut in two, and its halves now stand on private business property at the Covered Bridge Pizza restaurants in Andover and North Kingsville. The county has had 62 covered bridges in all, and most of the others are gone.

Tips for visiting

• Get the map. Visit Ashtabula County offers a self-guided driving map, and county signs mark the route year round.
• See Smolen-Gulf and Riverview together. The Riverview pedestrian bridge stands directly below Smolen-Gulf at Indian Trails Park.
• Mind one-lane spans. Most of the older bridges carry a single lane. Take turns with oncoming traffic and obey posted limits.
• Plan around the festival. Expect extra traffic around the bridges during the festival in Jefferson in the second week of October.

Sources: Visit Ashtabula County: Covered Bridges, Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival: Bridges, Wikipedia: List of covered bridges in Ashtabula County, Ohio, Dale J. Travis: Ohio covered bridges list

See every Ohio bridge on our Ohio page, or browse the full index by state.