Worrall Covered Bridge

Site: V06-52
Municipality: Rockingham, VT
Location: Williams River, Bartonsville
Site Type: Covered Bridge
Vt Survey No: --
UTMs: (Zone 18) E: ?. N: ?

DESCRIPTION:

The Worrall Covered Bridge consists of a single span supported by two flanking timber Town lattice trusses. Two laminated stringers have been recently added to the underside of the floor parallel to the trusses for reinforcement. Each laminated stringer consists of short timbers tie-bolted together. Cable sway braces have been strung diagonally under the floor to provide additional lateral support.

A 19-foot span of steel beams carries the road across a flood way to the north end of the covered bridge, which rests on the original abutment of stonework now faced with concrete. To lessen the danger of washout, the bank behind that abutment has been partly excavated, leaving it nearly free-standing. The southern end of the bridge rests on the original abutment of stone slabs without mortar. The covered bridge is 82 feet long on its floor, with gable overhangs of 5 feet at both ends. The bridge is 17 feet wide, with a 14-foot roadway.

On the exterior, the large planks pegged together diagonally to form the trusses (and side walls) of the bridge are sheathed with flush boards hung vertically. Similar siding protects the ends of the trusses immediately inside the portals. There is a rectangular opening in the siding near the southwest corner to provide better visibility for on-coming traffic; The gable overhangs at both ends of the bridge are also sheathed with flush vertical boards. The roof of the bridge is covered with corrugated metal sheeting.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

At one time seventeen covered highway and railroad bridges stood in the town of Rockingham.(1) The Worrall Covered Bridge is one of three original to the town that survive. All three are the work of Sanford Granger, the most prominent bridge builder in northern Windham County, and date from the period 1867-7 [sic].

Vermont's covered bridges are among the state's most cherished and symbolic historic resources. About one hundred bridges still stand in the state, the greatest concentration by area of covered bridges in the country.(2) Many of these bridges are integral parts of unique architectural environments whose physical setting and cultural context have been little altered until recently. However, extensive highway construction programs are now drastically changing the historic environment of the state. The Vermont Division of Historic Sites wishes to extend the recognition and protection of the National Register to the majority of the surviving covered bridges, including the Worrall bridge.

NOTES:
1. Victor Morse (rev. by R. S. Allen), Windham County's Famous Covered Bridges, The Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, Vt., 1960, p. 26.
2. R. S. Allen, Covered Bridges of the Northeast, The Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, Vt., 1957, p. 50.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Morse, Victor (rev. by R. S. Allen), Windham County's Famous Covered Bridges, The Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, Vt., 1960.

Allen, Richard Sanders, Covered Bridges of the Northeast, The Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, Vt., 1957.

FORM PREPARED BY: Hugh H. Henry, Researcher, Vermont Division of Historic Sites, Pavilion Building, Montpelier, VT. Date: May 9, 1973.

DATE ENTERED: July 16, 1973.
(Source 127)