Swann Covered Bridge, Cleveland Alabama

Date added: January 29, 2024 Categories:

On September 11, 1933, the county commissioners ordered a highwater bridge built across the Warrior River in the Joy Precinct. It was to be built by the county bridge crew under the leadership of Zelma Tidwell, who was to receive $2.75 per day. His carpenters were to receive $1.75 and laborers $1.25.

The lumber for the bridge was furnished and delivered by Chuch Richards at $14 per thousand board feet. When the bridge was dedicated on November 7^th, the local community gave a supper for the workers.

Alabama Covered Bridges

The first known covered bridge in Alabama was a Town lattice truss built c.1830 over the Black Warrior River at Tuscaloosa. During the nineteenth century, an estimated 200 covered bridges were built in the state. Presumably, many covered bridges did not survive the Civil War, and many others were lost to floods, vandalism, neglect, and replacement. By the mid-twentieth century, only about fifty covered bridges remained, and by 1970 there were only seventeen. The National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges World Guide to Covered Bridges database currently lists twelve extant covered bridges in Alabama. These have reported construction dates ranging from c.1850 to 1933. Eight of the twelve are of Town lattice construction.

There are records of at least twelve covered bridges that once existed in Blount County. Only three have survived to the present: Swann Bridge (1933), Horton Mill Bridge (1934) and Easley Bridge (1930). Along with the Pacific Northwest, Blount County appears to have been one of the last strongholds of covered bridge building in the United States.

History of Bridge and Site

The area near the present-day community of Cleveland (originally known as Village Springs) was settled in the mid-nineteenth century. A 1905 U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Survey Map of Blount County shows a road along the alignment of the present Swann Bridge Road crossing Warrior River at, or near, this location. According to Bonnie Swann Montey, this crossing was a ford until 1933, when her grandmother, Lula Swann, widow of Thomas Swann, gave the county the right of way to build the road and bridge.

On September 11, 1933, the Blount County Commissioners ordered that a highwater bridge be built across the Warrior River in Joy Precinct...said bridge to be a covered lattice bridge, with abutment at each end and two piers under bridge. This bridge was to be built by the county's bridge crew, under the leadership of Zelma Tidwell, bridge foreman for Blount County from 1933 to 1935. The county paid Tidwell $2.75 per day, carpenters $1.75 and common laborers $1.25. E.L. Dover supplied hardware for the bridge, and Chuck Richards supplied lumber at $14 per thousand board feet. The total cost of the bridge was $3,682.54.

The Swann Bridge was constructed in the fall of 1933. According to Blount County history Warren Weaver's 1979 interview with Zema Tidwell, each bridge he built averaged fourteen to twenty workmen who lived on-site and built the bridges without the aid of machinery. Timbers were hoisted into place with ropes, and piers were built by stacking rocks and pouring hand-mixed concrete over them. All of the bridges used the Town lattice design, because, according to Mr. Tidwell, it was the strongest bridge construction. The Swann Bridge was dedicated on November 7^th, 1933, when the village of Cleveland held a community dinner. According to Bonnie Swann Montey, whose family has lived adjacent to the bridge for three generations, the bridge name was changed at this dinner from Joy Bridge to Swann Bridge at the suggestion of community physician Dr. Brown.

Preservation of Alabama's covered bridges began in 1967, when the Blount County Commissioners voted to repair Horton Mill Bridge, Swann Bridge, and Nectar Bridge and preserve them as tourist attractions.

Zelma C. Tidwell

Zelma Clyde Tidwell (1902-1987) was a native of Locust Fork, Alabama. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he returned to Alabama and went to work with his uncle, Forrest Tidwell, who was foreman of the Blount County bridge construction crew. He assisted in the construction of Locust Fork Bridge (1927), Dean's Ferry Bridge (1930), Duck Branch Bridge (1930), Inland Bridge (1930), Blount Springs Bridge (1931) Easley Bridge (1930), Slab Creek Bridge (1931), Crooked Shoals Bridge (1931), before taking over his uncle's position in 1933. Tidwell supervised the construction of Tyre Green Bridge (1933), Swann Bridge (1933), Nectar Bridge (1934) and Horton Mill Bridge (1935). In 1936, Zelma Tidwell retired from bridge building to join the Alabama Highway Patrol, and Blount County ceased building covered bridges.

Bridge Description

The Swann Bridge is a three-span wood Town lattice truss covered bridge on concrete piers and abutments. The total length of the bridge is 320, with span lengths of approximately 98', 98' and 112'. The bridge is 13'-9" wide overall, with a roadway width of approximately 10'-6".

The trusses are framed in the manner patented by Ithiel Town in 1820. Each truss is 3-4 diamonds high, measuring 11'-6" high from the top of the upper chord to the bottom of the lower chord. The upper and lower chords are four parallel 2" x 10" planks bolted together at the lattice intersections. The lattice webs are composed of 2" x 10" planks, bolted with two #4 threaded steel bolts at each intersection. There are vertical 6" x 10" timber posts at the ends of the trusses and over the piers and 7" x 9" chin braces next to each of the vertical posts. The posts and chin braces rest on bed timbers and support the inner section of the upper chord. Single 12 diameter metal rods with threaded ends connect the floor beams to the upper chord and are fastened with a nut above the upper chord and below the deck beams.

The lower chords rest on 9" x 9" bed timbers on the abutments and piers. Transverse deck beams (6" x 10" timbers spaced about 12' apart) are suspended below the lower chord by means of hanger rods fastened with nuts. There are four lines of stringers, each composed of three or four 2" x 10" planks laid on edge, on top of the deck beams. The deck consists of three layers of planks laid diagonally, transversely and longitudinally on top of the stringers. There are running boards (four lines of 1 ½" x 8" planks) laid longitudinally on top of the deck. Lower lateral bracing is 1" diameter rods with turnbuckles crossing between the floor beams. The rods appear to have loop-welded ends that wrap around the hanger rods in the space between the lower chord and each floor beam. Both ends of the bridge have been braced with 7" x 8" timber bents under the first deck beam.

Upper lateral bracing is 2" x 6" timbers in a lattice web resting on top of the upper chords, spaced about every 3'. Rafters (2" x 4", spaced every 2 ½') are seated on the upper chord and angle upward to support the gable roof. The corrugated metal roof is nailed to 2" x 4" purlins spaced approximately every 2 ½' on the rafters. The portals are square and angle out over the approaches about 10'. There is a board and batten tympanum over each portal. The tympanum over the south portal has a wooden sign bearing the inscription: Swann Bridge. Built in 1933. Galvanized corrugated metal siding, which is fastened to three longitudinal 1 ½" x 4" nailers along the outside of the trusses, covers the bridge. The siding extends from the bottom of the lower chord to 4' below the upper chord. Along the center span, the siding has been cut back to provide window openings. Short concrete wing walls extend behind the abutments along the roadway.