Bull's Bridge Covered Bridge, Kent Connecticut

Date added: February 04, 2024 Categories: Connecticut Covered Bridges Town Lattice Truss
 (1972)

Bull's Bridge is one of only three public highway structures of this type still standing in Connecticut. A second is the well-maintained West Cornwall bridge farther north on the same Housatonic River, carrying a state highway, and the third is the old Comstock Bridge, no longer in use, over the Salmon River on the boundary between the towns of Colchester and East Hampton. Bull's Bridge therefore is classified as a rarity in this State, which formerly had a considerable number of these attractive features in the rural landscape, now removed by flood, neglect, or deliberate destruction.

The structure represents a stage or period in both transportation history and civil engineering, physical remains of which are not common and are correspondingly important. It shows the ingenuity of earlier times in resolving, with wood as the medium, problems of road travel that today would be entrusted to steel and concrete.

Bridge Description

The time of original construction of this bridge has not been determined, but it may well date from the 1870's. It provides a crossing by a secondary road of the Housatonic River, the largest stream in Western Connecticut, and stands just south of a considerable drop in the river bed, down which the water cascades to form a very picturesque scene in wooded surroundings. Just to the east of the bridge site, a canal utilizes the power of this fall to operate an electrical generating plant farther to the south. The bridge is built on the Town lattice truss principle, which has been reinforced by additional trusswork visible on the interior. The roof is wood-shingled and the sides are sheathed with vertical planking, the seams covered by battens. Horizontal flush boarding, without battens, covers the ends around the roadway openings, and the sheathing throughout is unpainted. The necessary diagonal bracing of both horizontal and vertical members can be seen within. A space of several feet of the trusswork on both sides inside each entry is protected against the weather by vertical boarding.

By the 1970s, the structure was in progressively more precarious condition, being owned by the Town which had not the funds necessary for vital restoration and strengthening. A stop sign had been placed at each entrance to lessen the impact of traffic using the bridge. With cooperation from the State highway department, the required work was done and removal of the stop signs was feasible. The skirting seen below the lower chord of the bridge was installed to conceal the reinforcement construction and was done in a manner to match the board-and-batten work of the sheathing above.

Bull's Bridge Covered Bridge, Kent Connecticut  (1972)
(1972)

Bull's Bridge Covered Bridge, Kent Connecticut  (1972)
(1972)

Bull's Bridge Covered Bridge, Kent Connecticut  (1972)
(1972)