Newfield Covered Bridge, Newfield New York

Date added: April 22, 2024

Do you have an update on the current status of this structure? Please tell us about it in the comments below.

The Newfield Covered Bridge is a rare and substantially intact example of rural vernacular bridge design and construction in Tompkins County. Built of native materials, the timber bridge was erected at Newfield in 1853. The 115-foot, single-span structure incorporates the patented Town lattice truss; it is one of only 10 examples of its type and method of construction remaining in New York State. Built as a vehicular and pedestrian crossing over Cayuga Creek, the Newfield Covered Bridge remains in daily use.

The initial permanent settlement of the present hamlet of Newfield occurred during the first decade of the nineteenth century. Eliaken Dean purchased land along the West Branch of Cayuga Creek, where he erected a sawmill and grist mill. Originally named Florence, the settlement was designated as Newfield when the town was established in 1822. By the 1850s, Newfield had grown to a community of water-powered mills, numerous shops, and 80 dwellings. The Newfield Covered Bridge was originally planned as a component of a plank road leading north to Ithaca. Because the deep ravine cut by Cayuga Creek required a crossing at Newfield, the plank road company contracted for the needed span in 1851.

The covered bridge was constructed using abundant local materials and available rural craft skills. Local stone masons Starr and Russell laid the fieldstone abutments; the timber trusses and sheathing were completed by carpenters Samuel Hamm and his sons. Completed and opened to traffic in 1853, the Newfield Covered Bridge had a clear span of 100 feet; its overall construction cost was approximately $800.00. The bridge incorporated the lattice truss patented in 1820 by Ithiel Town. The Town lattice truss proved a relatively simple design that could be easily erected by local housewrights. One of the most widely erected truss types in New York State during the nineteenth century, the Town truss is currently represented by only 10 extant examples remaining in the state.

When placed in service, the covered timber bridge at Newfield provided a key crossing of the Cayuga Creek. Mill workers crossed from their residences to factories located on the opposite stream bank; farmers in the surrounding region and manufacturers at Newfield used the bridge to transport agricultural products, raw materials, and finished goods to markets at Ithaca via the plank road. When the bridge became unserviceable in the 1960s, local preservationists rallied community support for the restoration of the venerable span. With laminated wood arches inserted to relieve the sagging truss structure, the Newfield Covered Bridge was returned to service in 1972. Maintained by Tompkins County as a historic, functioning transportation Structure, the Newfield Covered Bridge remains an important vernacular engineering landmark in the Finger Lakes region.

Although hundreds of covered wood truss bridges were built throughout New York, only 24 remain.

The history of covered timber bridge construction in New York State spans the period from the first decade of the nineteenth century to the era of the First World War. The earliest known extant covered bridge was built in 1825; the latest in 1912.

Throughout much of the nineteenth century, New York was predominantly rural; its settlement pattern generally consisted of widely separated communities whose economy was based upon subsistence agriculture and local water-powered industry. Few improved roads connected population centers. As the Empire State grew and its economy expanded, however, road and bridge improvements became essential for linking emerging centers of civic market activity.

The earliest permanent bridges in New York were constructed using readily available local materials and skills. Because the cost of constructing bridges generally was the responsibility of local governments, they turned to readily available materials and skills for this purpose. The abundant timber and stone resources found throughout much of New York State made these materials the logical choice for bridge construction during the period of significance. The relative ease of construction was another factor that mitigated in favor of wooden bridge construction. The timber framing skills of local millwrights and joiners were readily adaptable to the construction of timber bridges.

During the Colonial period, the first timber bridges incorporated the Kingpost or the Queenpost truss configuration. These simple, open structures with plank decks were widely erected across small streams, though their use was limited to clear spans less than fifty feet in length. Longer crossings were possible using multiple spans supported by mid-stream piers or timber cribbing. The open timber truss bridge remained an inexpensive and popular form for farm bridges and crossings on minor roads until the early twentieth century, when it was supplanted by the metal span. The open trusswork was sometimes sheathed with protective weather boards to preserve the life of the truss. Because of its horizontal top chord, it was possible to cover a Queenpost truss bridge with a protective roof. The Copeland Covered Bridge (1879), a farmer's bridge in rural Saratoga County, is an extant example of a covered Queenpost truss bridge remaining in New York.

From the early decades of the nineteenth century, the cost of building and maintaining timber bridges generally fell upon local governments or state-chartered bridge or turnpike companies, which were established as for-profit ventures. It soon became evident that protecting the bridge's structural system from the elements would reduce the burden of maintenance and replacement costs. This protection was most readily achieved by covering the timber truss bridge with a roof and board sheathing to enclose the frame structure.

During the Federal period, inventor Theodore Burr (1772-1822) designed a highly successful long-span bridge form that combined the structural advantages of a simple timber truss with a relieving arch. Burr patented his timber truss design in 1817. His first successful bridge was a four-span structure erected across the Hudson River at Waterford, New York in 1804. Built of hand-hewn pine structural members, the Waterford bridge was sheathed with pine plank siding and covered by a shingled roof. Burr's bridge stood for more than a century until it was destroyed by fire in 1909. The Burr Arch Truss is represented in New York by three extant historic covered bridges: Perrine's Bridge (1844), Ulster County, Salisbury Center Bridge (1875), Herkimer County, and the Hyde Hall Bridge (1825), Otsego County.

A successful truss design nearly contemporary with the Burr truss was the Town lattice truss, patented in 1820 by the versatile builder/architect Ithiel Town (1784-1844). Consisting of a horizontal top and bottom chord connected by a web of closely spaced, alternating diagonal timbers, the Town lattice truss included no vertical members; the required stiffness was achieved by connecting the intersecting diagonals with wood pins. Carried on piers placed at intervals, bridges incorporating the Town lattice truss could span considerable distances. Its inherent strength coupled with its ease of construction made the Town truss design a popular design for highway and early railroad bridges until the post-Civil War era. The covered bridges at Eagleville and Shushan, Washington County, are notable examples of the Town truss form.

During the 1830s, Colonel Stephen H. Long (1784-1864) of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers perfected a rigid timber truss form that incorporated panels consisting of intersecting diagonals and counters. Long's initial patented design of 1830 for an "assisted truss" included a redundant Kingpost relieving truss above the center panel points (where the greatest flex would occur). With practical experience, Long refined his design to eliminate its "overbuilt" characteristics, receiving additional patents in 1836 and 1839. The Old Blenheim Bridge (1855), Schoharie County, (destroyed 2011) was a notable example of the Long truss design.

The final major timber truss design to achieve widespread popularity during the late nineteenth century was first patented in 1840 by William Howe (1803-1852). The Howe truss consisted of horizontal timber top and bottom chords and diagonal wood compression members combined with vertical tension members made of wrought iron. The ends of the iron tensions rods were threaded and secured to iron shoes at the panel points of the web. The inherent properties of wood and iron as construction materials were effectively used in Howe's truss; this hybrid truss became the most widely constructed, standard American timber bridge form of the nineteenth century. The Rexleigh (1874) and Buskirk (1857) Covered Bridges in Washington County and the Jay Covered Bridge (1857), Essex County, are Howe truss structures.

By the third quarter of the nineteenth century, the covered timber truss bridge was being supplanted by the manufactured metal truss bridge on the roads and rail lines of New York State. Stimulated by wartime growth and development, iron manufacturers turned to production of standardized metal bridge components in the post-Civil War era. The increased strength, ease of construction, and reduced cost associated with metal bridges won favor among local governments and railroad companies; by the 1880s, the heyday of wooden bridge-building had passed. Although several examples of covered timber truss spans remain from the early twentieth century in rural areas of New York, the advantages of iron bridges were clearly understood and widely applied well before 1900.

Bridge Description

The Newfield Covered Bridge is located in the hamlet of Newfield, Tompkins County. The heavy wood plank and timber framed, gable-roofed, single span crosses a deep ravine cut by the West Branch of Cayuga Creek, a tributary that flows northeastward to the Cayuga Lake inlet. The Newfield Covered Bridge is situated with its portal ends oriented north-south. Built in 1853 and substantially rehabilitated in 1972, the span remains in daily use, carrying pedestrian and vehicular traffic on Covered Bridge Street.

The general dimensions of the Newfield Covered Bridge are as follows:

Overall length: 115'
Overall width: 19'
Deck width: 16'
Portal height: 12'
Portal width: 16'

The timber bridge rests upon stone abutments that have been substantially reinforced with poured concrete during the twentieth century. The web of the superstructure incorporates the Town lattice truss. Heavy paired planks form the top and bottom chords. Planks also form the intersecting diagonal members, which are joined by wood pins ("trunnels") driven through each point of intersection. Heavy timber floor beams carried on the bottom chord support a deck of planks laid longitudinally on edge. The portals are angled, projecting beyond the ends of the web to protect the trusses from possible impact. The rafters bear on the top chord and extend beyond the trusses to shelter the entire bridge; the roof is sheathed in wood shingles attached to nail strips. The exterior of the bridge is sheathed entirely in horizontal clapboard siding. A series of six diamond-shaped window openings have been cut into each side wall to light the interior of the span.

During the early 1970s, the Newfield Covered Bridge had become severely deteriorated and was in danger of collapse. An extensive program of rehabilitation was carried out in 1972 to correct structural failure. The span was modified by inserting within the trusses of a pair of laminated wood arches (12" by 32") carried on poured concrete shoulder abutments. The bridge also was re-sheathed as part of this rehabilitation. In 1998, the Newfield bridge received a new wood deck and wood shingle roof and was re-painted; Tompkins County also carried out extensive streambank stabilization along Cayuga Creek at the bridge site.