List of covered bridges in West Virginia

Barrackville Covered Bridge

This is a list of West Virginia covered bridges. There are 17 historic wooden covered bridges in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Only three of these bridges were built before 1870 and they are the three longest in the state. Each uses a standard truss design, braced with the Burr Arch. No one-truss design dominates in the state. The bridges are located in three general areas. In the south in Monroe and Greenbrier counties there are about a half dozen bridges within an easy drive of one another. To the north around Philippi is another group of bridges, including the historic Philippi Covered Bridge which is the longest (285 feet (87 m)) and an important part of state history for its associations with the American Civil War.^[1]

Existing bridges

The following is a list of the 17 extant West Virginia covered bridges.

Name[1]	Image	Location [1]^[A]	Year Built[1]	Design, Length and Historical Notes^[B]
Barrackville Covered Bridge		Barrackville, Marion County	1853	Multiple King Post, Burr Arch, 146 feet (45 m) long over Buffalo Creek. Built by Chenoweth.
Carrollton Covered Bridge		Carrollton, Barbour County	1856	Multiple King Post, Burr Arch, 141 feet (43 m) long over Buckhannon River
Center Point Covered Bridge		Center Point, Doddridge County	1888	Long Truss, 42 feet (13 m) long over Pike Fork of McElroy Creek
Dents Run Covered Bridge		Laurel Point, Monongalia County	1889	King Post, 40 feet (12 m) long over Dents Run
Fish Creek Covered Bridge		Hundred, Wetzel County	1881	King Post, 30 feet (9.1 m) long over Fish Creek
Fletcher Covered Bridge aka "Ten Mile Creek Covered Bridge"		Cutler, Harrison County	1891	Multiple King Post, 58 feet (18 m) long over Tenmile Creek
Herns Mill Covered Bridge aka "Milligan Creek Covered Bridge"		Asbury, Greenbrier County	1884	Queen post, 54 feet (16 m) long over Milligans Creek
Hokes Mill Covered Bridge aka "Second Creek Covered Bridge"		Hokes Mill, Greenbrier County	1899	Long Truss, 82 feet (25 m) long over Second Creek
Indian Creek Covered Bridge		Union, Monroe County	1903	Long Truss, 48 feet (15 m) long over Indian Creek
Laurel Creek Covered Bridge aka "Lily Dale Covered Bridge"		Lillydale, Monroe County	1911	Howe Truss, 22 feet (6.7 m) long over Laurel Creek
Locust Creek Covered Bridge		Hillsboro, Pocahontas County	1870	Warren Truss, 113 feet (34 m) long over Monroe Creek
Mud River Covered Bridge		Milton, Cabell County	1876	Howe Truss, 108 feet (33 m) long over Mud River
Philippi Covered Bridge		Philippi, Barbour County	1852	Long Truss with Burr Arch, 285 feet (87 m) long over Tygart Valley River. Built by Chenoweth.
Sarvis Fork Covered Bridge aka "Sandy Creek Covered Bridge"		Sandyville, Jackson County	1889	Long Truss, 101 feet (31 m) long over Left Fork Sandy Creek
Simpson Creek Covered Bridge aka "Hollens Mill Covered Bridge"		Bridgeport, Harrison County	1881	Multiple King Post, 74 feet (23 m) long over Simpson Creek
Staats Mill Covered Bridge		Ripley, Jackson County	1887	Long Truss, 97 feet (30 m). Originally over Tug Fork, Big Mill Creek.
Walkersville Covered Bridge		Walkersville, Lewis County	1908	Queen post, 54 feet (16 m) long over Right Fork of West Fork River

Former bridges

The following is a list of no longer extant West Virginia covered bridges. A complete list of covered bridges that have existed at one time or another in the state would exceed 100.^[2]

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Barbour County

• Audra Covered Bridge, 18??, Audra (Burnt, 1940s)

Randolph County

• Beverly Covered Bridge, 1847, Chenoweth's first bridge (destroyed).
• Cheat Bridge Covered Bridge, 18??, across Cheat River at Cheat Bridge^[3]

Randolph/Upshur Counties

• Middle Fork Covered Bridge, 18??, across Middle Fork River spanning county border (Chenoweth; destroyed).

Marion County

• Paw Paw Creek Covered Bridge, 18??, Grant Town (Destroyed in flood, August 1980)

Upshur County

• Buckhannon Covered Bridge, 18?? (Chenoweth; destroyed).

Doddridge County

• West Union Covered Bridge, 1843 across Middle Island Creek (Destroyed in flood, June 1950).

Lewis County

• Weston Covered Bridge, 18??, across Stonecoal Creek, (Chenoweth; destroyed).

Braxton County

• Bulltown Covered Bridge, 1854^[4]

Harrison County

• Maulsby Bridge, 1848, across West Fork River (part of Weston and Fairmont Turnpike Company)^[5]

Monongalia County

• Wadestown Covered Bridge, 18??, across the West Virginia branch of Dunkard Creek.

References

1. West Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme Publishing; 3rd edition (2003), pg 13
2. Shaluta, Jr., Stephen J. (2004), Covered Bridges in West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia: Quarrier Press.
3. The original "Cheat Bridge" was built before the American Civil War. After the Battle of Greenbrier River (3 October 1861), Union troops used the bridge when they built extensive military defenses at nearby Cheat Summit. Over 40 years later, celebrated satirist and short story writer Ambrose Bierce revisited the site of his youthful service. He found that “…the old wooden covered bridge across the Cheat River looks hardly a day older, and is still elaborately decorated with soldiers’ names carven with jack-knives.” (Letter, Ambrose Bierce to Alexander Whitehall, 30 September 1904. Published in Ninth Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry Association: Proceedings of the 18th Annual Reunion (N.p., 1904), pp 13-18. Reprinted as “Battlefields and Ghosts” (Palo Alto, California: Harvest Press, 1931) and in Joshi, S.T. and David E. Schultz, eds. (1998), Ambrose Bierce, A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography; Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, pp 3-6.)
4. Cook, Roy Bird: "The Battle of Bulltown" "The West Virginia Review: June 1933:254-56 found in WV Archives and History at wvculture.org, Replaced with steel bridge (my personal witness we drove over it from Burnsville to Bulltown) which was destroyed by Army Engineers when the Burnsville Dam was built between summer of 1972-September 1976. See Wikipedia: Burnsville Lake with source given as Department of Army.
5. The longest covered bridge ever existing in Harrison County (300 feet).

Notes

• ^A Sorting this column will result in bridges being listed in order by county. *^B Sorting this column will result in bridges being listed in order by their length.