Covered bridge in Middlebury Vermont
Halpin Covered Bridge, Middlebury Vermont
The Halpin Covered Bridge, although one of the shorter covered wood bridges in Vermont, is the highest in the State. It crosses a gorge of the Muddy Branch of the New Haven River about 41 feet above the stream. Standing near the end of a rural road, the bridge carries very little traffic and remains essentially unaltered from its original condition.
The covered bridges of Vermont are among its most cherished and symbolic historic resources. About one hundred bridges still stand in the state, the greatest concentration by area of covered bridges in the country. Many of these bridges are integral parts of unique architectural environments whose physical setting and cultural context have been little altered until recently. However, extensive highway construction programs are now drastically changing the historic environment of the state.
The Halpin Covered Bridge consists of a single span supported by two flanking timber Town lattice trusses. The wood floor is laid with planks perpendicular to the trusses and overlaid with planks parallel to the trusses for the driving surface. The abutments are built of stone slabs laid dry; they have been capped with concrete. The bridge is 66 feet long overall and 16 feet wide, with a 12.5 foot roadway.
On the exterior, the large planks pegged together diagonally to form the trusses (and side walls) of the bridge are sheathed with flush boards hung vertically. There are no windows or openings in the side walls. The gable ends are also sheathed with flush vertical boards. The medium-pitch gable roof is covered with wood shingles.
