Hillsboro Covered Bridge, Hillsboro Kentucky
Known locally as Hillsboro-Grange City Covered Bridge, it is a multiple kingpost truss design.
At one time Kentucky had hundreds of covered bridges spanning her rivers. Just prior to World War II, sixty-five were still standing. By 1952, the numbers had shrunk to thirty-nine. Now only sixteen remain. These sixteen, which represent a variety of structural types, are concentrated in the central and northeast sections of the state in the small communities or rural areas of the state.
The Hillsboro Covered Bridge stretches across Fox Creek in Fleming County adjacent to Kentucky Route 111, 13.6 miles outside of Flemingsburg. It is of the Multiple Kingpost truss design with a full top lateral system. Probably built in the late 1860s, it was last used in 1968 when it was replaced by a modern concrete bridge located fifty yards upstream.
The bridge's timbers are of yellow pine with double-shouldered braces. A single 94-foot span, it was probably built by the same people who constructed Ringos Mill Covered Bridge several miles up Fox Creek. Abutments of soapstone or red stone sit on each side of the creek and corrugated sheet metal covers the roof and sides. Originally it was double-sided with yellow poplar.
