Friday, February 10, 2012

Covered Bridges of Frederick County, Maryland

I am also linking up with Sunday Bridges
Thanks to Louis for hosting Sunday Bridges. I hope you get a chance to visit Sunday Bridges. 


Remember if you like you can click on the photos for a larger image.


I was surprised to learn that Frederick County, Maryland was home to three historic covered bridges. There are a total of eight covered bridges in Maryland. At one time there were 52 bridges in Maryland but, neglect, fires, storms and progress have wiped them out.  Each of the three bridges in Frederick County are beautiful and are structured differently. I was able to take some photos of each bridge while on a daytrip with my hubby to Thurmont, Frederick County, Maryland.



 The Loys Station bridge is 90 feet long and is the multiple kingpost design.




The first stop was at the Loys Station Rd covered bridge and this one was my favorite of the three covered bridges.



Why cover bridges? The answer is wooden bridges with exposed superstructures were vulnerable to rot. In the 1800's  farmers  needed inland transportation and wood was a plentiful building material.




It is 101 foot long and is called the burr arch design.

This is the Utica Mills covered bridge and as you can see the inside structure looks entirely different that the first Loys Station Bridge.


The Roddy Rd is 40 feet long and is a single span kingpost design.


This is the Roddy Road covered bridge and the smallest. It was the last of the three bridges on our 30 miles loop covered bridge tour. Each of the three bridges have a weight and height restriction. Now, I would like to find the other five covered bridges in Maryland. I am sure I find where they are located just by doing a Google search.

I hope you enjoyed my covered bridge post and I am linking up with Scenic Sunday.  Thanks to the Holleys for hosting. And I thank you for stopping by to see my post. Have a Happy Weekend!

49 comments:

  1. What interesting bridges! I've never seen anything quite like these before. Thanks for sharing this scenery! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do not understand why the bridges needed to be covered initially.

    Any purposes behind?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cool. I love covered bridges. There are about 4 or 5 of them in California and I've seen all of them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. As if old bridge construction isn't interesting enough then add covers. Not sure I'd trust that last one.

    Oregon has a nice collection of covered bridges also.

    Hope you get to see and share the other Maryland covered bridges.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello :) I enjoyed your post. Found it thru Scenic Sunday. Hope you can also visit my entry.

    http://www.stepsonair.info/revisiting-pinr-in-bohol/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice pictures, now show us a beautiful bridge with the look of your camera. I wish you a happy weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Leovi, These pic's are from my camera.

      Here is a link to my photo gallery with more of my bridge photos.

      http://eileeninmd.smugmug.com/Travel/Jan-2012-Covered-Bridges/21235612_wvRRhG

      I made them smaller in size for the bloggers who have a slower internet connection and are not able to load post with the larger size photos I usually do on my other blog. Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  7. I like those kinds of projects. Doable but with some adventure in between and guaranteed photo ops.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Eileen - please link this to Sunday Bridges, too!
    Sunday Bridges posts at 0001 hrs central Europe time each Sunday. This Sunday will be our 100th Sunday Bridge post, so your covered bridge will be very welcome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Louis! I will link up my post for Sunday's Bridges.

      Delete
  9. These are lovely examples of covered bridges. I didn't realise that they had different designs. I learn something every day from blogs. It must have been a fun trip and thanks for taking us with you.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That is so interesting! I don't think I've ever seen bridges like that before!
    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely shots... saw your link on 'Scenic Sunday...'

    ReplyDelete
  12. Eileen, «Louis» was up early and he linked this for you. It is such a great post, he wanted to be sure it was seen by his visitors!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Louis, Thank you for thinking of me. Thanks for hosting Sunday Bridges. I hope you have a great day!

      Delete
  13. Great pics of beautiful bridges. Like it very much.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lovely set of pictures. Never seen similar bridges any where.

    ReplyDelete
  15. yes, it is a funny bridge, that is why we asked my husband if the brdige was falling down.

    If I ever visit USA again, I like to see a covered bridge. In Singapore, they would lock this up, to prevent beggers from sleeping in it.

    ReplyDelete
  16. how amazing; I'm sure it's the first covered bridge I've seen

    ReplyDelete
  17. I really enjoyed all of these photos of the covered bridges, we don't have them here in Florida and i have never seen one, my husband is from PA and they have a lot of them there. beautiful photos. i just enjoyed a scroll through the post your dog or cat site, so many beautiful pets. thanks for stopping by my post today

    ReplyDelete
  18. I love old covered bridges! There aren't many in Ontario, though so it's nice to see three in Maryland!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Fascinating and thanks for the insights - it is a type of bridge we don't see at all over here.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great shots!
    Love that covered bridge, I've never seen one before.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Have a great day.
    Greetings Mette

    ReplyDelete
  21. Nice views of these bridges. And they must be well loved and well cared for, judging by the condition.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wonderful views. I like the trip through the bridge.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I've always wanted to see a covered bridge...then when I saw BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, I REALLY wanted to see one.
    These are beautiful. I am sure there's no covered bridges in Texas but I am about to Google to see. :))

    ReplyDelete
  24. OMYGOSH...there are covered bridges in Texas.....
    one near Dallas that I just MAY get a chance to go see. :))

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great tour of these fine bridges!! Boom & Gary of the |Vermilon River, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Lots of interesting shots there - we do not have covered bridges overhere at least I am not aware of any - we have tunnels such as the Dartford Tunnel and the Mersey Tunnel - have a goos week - Jane UK

    ReplyDelete
  27. Never thought covered bridges would be different from each other. Great trivia in this post too. Good luck finding the rest of the bridges! :D Hope to see them one time in your posts again. :D Thank you for stopping by at my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  28. These wonderful ole bridges certainly are beautiful reminders of just how far we have come in bridge building.. but I for one love the old covered ones best of all.
    ~:)

    ReplyDelete
  29. I love the structure inside, it is so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Great post on covered briges.. Thanks for sharing so mamy and giving info on them..As a child i was in awe of them when we traveled thru them

    ReplyDelete
  31. Great pictures -- and we have seen covered bridges in many states, even Oregon, and yet this is the first time I realized the 'why' of them. Makes sense. Thanks for the enjoyable lesson.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I don't know just what it is that make covered bridges so very 'cool' but they make me sigh every time I happen upon one. Last time, I was on a bus, darn it!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. This is something I've never seen before. Very interesting. I'm following your travels, Eileen.
    Rosie

    ReplyDelete
  34. I have always had a fascination with covered bridges. I enjoyed those very much. Thanks for sharing and for popping over to my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  35. well who wouldn't love covered bridges after the "Bridges of Madison County". Thank you for sharing these bridges Eileen - we have nothing like that over here. Thank you also for stopping by my blog to say hi. Have a wonderful week.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I love your covered bridges! Two years ago, a Triple A magazine featured Oregon's covered bridges....the most of any state west of the Mississippi. The greatest number are in the Willamette Valley in Western Oregon, so that was our destination for two summer trips. Now I have a wonderful collection .... most of Oregon's are white, but I have photos of at least one red one. Fascinating structures. It's great to see the beautiful ones you photographed in Frederick County.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Great series! Wonderful bridges! I don't think I have ever seen covered bridges!
    Thanks for sharing;o)

    ***
    Happy day****

    ReplyDelete
  38. Great shots from your tour. There are a number of covered bridges in PA not too far from the MD border. I have not yet visited them. This link http://www.mdcoveredbridges.com/ says 6 are still in MD. Some are no longer used for vehicle traffic.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Great post Eileen, covered bridges are a special treasure. I am from New Brunswick home of the longest covered bridge.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hi Eileen, I almost missed this post... I LOVE covered bridges---and the three in Frederick County are awesome. We were going to take a trip to Vermont last year to see all of the covered bridges up there. BUT--the storm and flooding wiped out some of those bridges so we changed that trip... SOMEDAY I'd love to go up there (or to Md) to see the covered bridges... Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  41. I have never seen covered bridges...looks very special. Thank you for this tour.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Nice shots and interesting reading about this kind of bridges.

    ReplyDelete
  43. I love these old covered bridges. We have so few left in our area. One was destroyed by a tornado recently and another was torn down to build a new roadway. I only know of two others in central Missouri.

    Glad that photographers like you are recording them for all of us to enjoy.

    In case I have failed to say this before, I appreciate your following my blog and enjoy all your comments.

    ReplyDelete

Hello, Thanks for stopping by my blog. I appreciate all your visits.

BTW, I will not publish anonymous comments, unless I recognize the name. Sorry!

Have a great day, Eileen

Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos, Nov 2023

 Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos, November 5-9th 2023 Hubby and I enjoyed a short getaway to Turks and Caicos. It is a British territory, close ...