Roddy Road Covered Bridge, Thurmont Maryland
The Roddy Road Covered Bridge is one of only eight remaining covered bridges in the State of Maryland.
According to Richard Allen in Covered Bridges of the Middle Atlantic States, the building of covered bridges in Maryland was limited to the western and central counties, while the limestone counties of far Western Maryland erected stone bridges instead. Covered wooden bridges were present on many of the major highways, including U.S. 40 and the Jefferson and Buckeystown Pikes in Frederick County. Until the introduction of the steel truss bridge in the mid-nineteenth century, most Qf the crossings in the county were wood truss structures often covered for protection from the elements. At one time as many as five wooden bridges crossed the Monocacy River. In the summer of 1889, the Johnstown Flood destroyed most of these.
The Roddy Road Covered Bridge is a small, one-lane, single-span wood truss covered bridge that crosses Owen's Creek on Roddy Road north of Thurmont in Frederick County, Maryland.
The wood bridge consists of a single king post truss forty feet in length resting on five steel stringers and two stone abutments. The deck is wooden planking, the entire structure is covered with red beveled German clapboarding, and is finished by a tin gabled roof.
A resident who lived adjacent to the Roddy Road bridge claims he helped install the steel stringers in the 1920's. Most of the clapboarding has been replaced according to the County Roads Department.
(1977)
