Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge

Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge
Coordinates	43°28′26″N 72°23′02″W
Crosses	Connecticut River
Locale	Cornish, New Hampshire to Windsor, Vermont
Maintained by	New Hampshire Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Design	Town lattice truss bridge
Material	Wood
Total length	449 ft 5 in (137.0 m)
Width	24 ft (7.3 m)
Longest span	204 ft (62.2 m)
Load limit	10 US tons (9.1 metric tons)
Clearance below	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
History
Construction end	1866
Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Windsor, VT
Coordinates	43°28′25″N 72°23′2″W
Built	1866
NRHP reference No.	76000135
Added to NRHP	November 21, 1976
Location

The Cornish–Windsor Covered Bridge is a covered bridge that spans the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire and Windsor, Vermont. It was the longest covered bridge still standing in the United States until the Smolen–Gulf Bridge opened in Ohio in 2008.

While the Old Blenheim Bridge had and Bridgeport Covered Bridge has longer clear spans, and the Smolen–Gulf Bridge is longer overall, with a longest single span of 204 feet (62 m), the Cornish–Windsor Bridge is still the longest wooden covered bridge and has the longest single covered span to carry automobile traffic (Blenheim was and Bridgeport is pedestrian only).

History

There were three bridges previously built on this site—one each in 1796, 1824 and 1828. The 1824 and 1828 spans were constructed and operated by a group of businessmen which included Allen Wardner.

The current bridge was originally built in 1866, and rebuilt in 1988. The bridge is approximately 449 feet (137 m) long and 24 feet (7.3 m) wide. It has a Town lattice type truss. It was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 1970.

The bridge is owned and maintained by the State of New Hampshire, and though often associated with Windsor, is in fact part of the town of Cornish, since the defined boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont is at the western mean low-water mark of the river. When one drives onto the bridge from the Windsor side of the river one is immediately in New Hampshire.

See also

• List of crossings of the Connecticut River
• List of New Hampshire covered bridges
• List of covered bridges in Vermont
• Old Blenheim Bridge – previous claim of longest single covered span
• Bridgeport Covered Bridge – another claim of longest single covered span
• Hartland Bridge – The longest covered bridge in the world (located in Hartland, New Brunswick, Canada)
• List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire
• List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Sullivan County, New Hampshire
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Windsor County, Vermont

References

• ASCE Landmarks by location
• Richard G. Marshall. "New Hampshire Covered Bridges/CORNISH-WINDSOR BRIDGE". New Hampshire Department of Transportation.

External links

Media related to Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge at Wikimedia Commons

• Cornish–Windsor Bridge, NH Division of Historical Resources