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Alleghany
County, Virginia
(WGN 46-03-01)
(WGCB VA-03-01):
(1857) A single-span multiple Kingpost truss 100' (per VDOT - Others list the bridge's length as 106' 6") over Dunlap Creek.
Located: In Alleghany County, west of Covington, Virginia off US 60.
Directions: From I-64 West of Covington, Virginia, take exit 10 to
US 60 and traveling 0.5 mile east, or by taking US 60 west from Covington
to the bridge's roadside park. The Humpback Covered Bridge is the
oldest of Virginia's remaining covered bridges. It was part of the
James River & Kanawha Turnpike (JR&KT) and it succeeds three other
bridges at the site. It stretches over Dunlap Creek, which is a tributary
of the Jackson River that joins the Cowpasture River, near Iron Gate to
form the James River. The first bridge was built in the 1820s and was washed
away by a flood on May 12, 1837. The second fell victim to the flood of
July 13, 1842 and the third, as the annual report of the JR&KT company
put it, "gave way" in 1856. The bridge is four feet higher at its
center than it is at either end, thus the name, "Humpback". Traffic across
the bridge ceased in 1929 when it was replaced with a "modern" steel truss
bridge. It stood derelict (and was even used by a nearby farmer to store
hay) until 1954 when it was restored and preserved as part of Alleghany
County's history. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
October 1, 1969. (May 2003) |
