COVERED BRIDGES TELL STORIES

Vermont’s covered bridges connect roads across rivers and stitch together the state’s stories. The first covered bridges were built to protect the driving surface from weather, stabilize the structure, and to keep horses calm as they crossed rivers pulling buggies. In the 19th century, Vermont was home to more than 700 covered bridges, with 35 spanning the Connecticut River alone. They were known as “kissing bridges” for the moments of privacy they afforded courting couples passing through. With the rise of the automobile and damage over time, the number of covered bridges dropped significantly. Today, Vermont is home to exactly 100 of these beautiful, functional structures. Most are still active parts of the state’s roadways, and you’ll likely see at least one without even trying as you drive through the Green Mountains.

THE TOWN WITH THE MOST COVERED BRIDGES

No town in Vermont boasts more covered bridges than Montgomery, located in the Northwest region. The town is interlaced with streams, and back in the 1800s it needed a lot of bridges to connect its farms and settlements. Luckily, Montgomery had the Jewett brothers to build them. Using the “Town Lattice” style of criss-cross framing, the Jewetts constructed many of Montgomery’s original covered bridges, five of which are accessible today, plus another bridge that the town shares with Enosburgh. The Comstock, Longley, Hutchins, and Hopkins bridges cross the Trout River; the Fuller sits among the tidy homes in Montgomery Village. Most remote of all, the Creamery Bridge straddles a waterfall on West Hill Brook.

Vermont is home to 100 covered bridges dating from 1820, boasting more covered bridges per square mile than any other U.S state.