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Washington
County, New York
(WGN
32-58-03) (WGCB NY-58-03) (1874; restored 1983-84)
A single-span Howe truss 107' over the Battenkill River. Located:
In Jackson and Salem, New York. Directions: From Salem, New
York take SR 22 south for two miles. Turn left on Rexleigh Road,
and go 1.5 miles to the bridge. The bridge is painted a light brown,
and has an opening under the eaves. The deck planking is lengthwise,
and it has a shaker roof. Black letters on both gables indicates:
"REXLEIGH BRIDGE 1874 25 DOLLARS FINE FOR DRIVING ON THIS BRIDGE FASTER
THAN A WALK." The east abutment is made up of huge white marble blocks
from a nearby quarry, a feature usually found in some Vermont bridges and
the west abutment is concrete. The bridge has inside weatherboards
and a chain link fence has been added to the full height of the truss system.
The bridge is unique in many aspects. No other existing American
wooden bridge has seventy-pound cast iron "shoes" to fit the timbers into
the joining ends of the iron rods. This feature was patented by R.
Comins of Troy, New York. Likewise, the structure is one of
ten such covered bridges still standing in the Northeast, using a Howe
truss. The original slate roof survived more than one hundred years
of heavy snow and flood waters before engineers determined that the loading
from the slate itself was unsafe. From 1983 to 1984, a full restoration
including the roof replacement with shakes were completed. It was
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 8, 1978.
(May 2005) |
