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Grafton
County, New Hampshire
New Hampshire No.
42 (WGN 29-05-07 #2) (WGCB NH-05-07 #2): (1958; repaired 1964)
(Private) A single-span Queenpost truss 60' 6" over West Branch Brook.
Located: North of West Campton, New Hampshire at Bridge Brook
Campground. Directions: 1 mile west of I-93 at exit 28 on SR
49 then right half a mile on US 3 and right again 0.2 mile to the Bridge
Brook Campground. On private property so request permission to visit.
The original covered bridge on this site was built in 1874 and was named
for Jim Cummings, whose property it served. Cummings farm was known as
Turkey Jim's Turkey Farm. The bridge was replaced in 1958, at a cost
of $3,700, when it was discovered that due to its deteriorated condition
it could not be repaired. In 1964,
the bridge was washed downstream, retrieved, and set back on its abutments.
It is no longer open to vehicular traffic but is used as a pedestrian crossing
and snowmobile crossing in the winter. There are two rather different features on this bridge. First on the exterior there are two buttress timbers placed at equal thirds along the side of the bridge, very few New England bridges have this feature. Second, in the interior, the truss consists of a primary Queenpost truss with another smaller Queenpost truss inside the primary - unusual in any Queenpost truss. It has not reached the 50 year National Register of Historic Places age criteria. (Sep 2003) |
