Shushan Covered Bridge, Shushan New York
- Categories:
- New York
- Covered Bridges
- Town Lattice Truss
The ease of construction afforded local builders by the Town lattice truss explains its popularity in Washington County. At least eleven Town truss bridges are known to have spanned the Batten Kill during the nineteenth century. Of these eleven, only two examples remain in Washington County. The Eaglevllle Covered Bridge was erected by local builder Ephraim Clapp in 1858. The Shushan Bridge, built in 1858 by Milton Stevens, has survived as the result of local preservation efforts. Open to the public on a seasonal basis, the Shushan Covered Bridge presently houses a local history collection of artifacts. Both the Eaglevllle and the Shushan bridges are significant as typical examples of the Town lattice truss design as constructed in New York State during the nineteenth century.
The covered bridges of Washington County helped to stimulate and direct the development of this rural area during the nineteenth century. Few roads linked the widely scattered population of Washington County, and hilly terrain characterized by meandering streams such as the Batten Kill and the Hoosic dictated the need for reliable, dry crossings on the few principal arteries which existed. An economy based largely upon agriculture and local, water-powered Industries required sound bridges on vital market routes. These conditions together with Improvements in standard engineering designs for timber bridges brought a wave of wooden bridge construction and replacement to Washington County beginning about 1840.
Local builders, using abundant native timber for construction materials, erected a number of roofed bridges based upon two principal designs: the plank lattice truss patented by Ithiel Town (1820), and the timber and iron truss patented by William Howe (1840). The Howe truss type is represented in Washington County by the bridges at Buskirk and at Rexleigh.
The Shushan Covered Bridge is 161 feet long and 16 feet wide. The abutments were repaired with concrete, and the center pier with concrete and steel in 1974. The Highway was rerouted to by pass the bridge in 1963.
(1976)
