Upper Cox Brook Covered Bridge, Northfield Vermont

Date added: July 09, 2024 Categories:
South portal and east elevation (1974)

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The Upper Cox Brook Covered Bridge is one of five covered wood bridges remaining on public highways in the town of Northfield, the second highest concentration by town of such bridges in Vermont. Three of those bridges, including the Upper Cox Brook Bridge, stand within one-quarter mile of one another along the same road, which leads west from the village of Northfield Falls.

The covered bridges of Vermont are among its most cherished and symbolic historic resources. About one hundred of the bridges still stand in the state, the highest concentration by area of covered bridges in the United States.

Bridge Description

The Upper Cox Brook Covered Bridge consists of a single span supported originally by two flanking timber queenpost trusses. The timber deck structure has been replaced by four longitudinal steel beams, with floor planks laid on edge directly on the steel beams and transverse to them. The timber trusses now carry only the superstructure of the bridge. The trusses are skewed about four feet inside the rectangular "shed" of the bridge. The original wood struts which extended between the vertical posts and the top beams of the superstructure have also been replaced by steel counterparts.

The Upper Cox Brook Bridge is 51.5 feet long and 17 feet wide, and has a 14-foot roadway. The wood floor, which corresponds in plan to the parallelogram formed by the trusses, is 43.5 feet long. Along the east wall, the wood floor begins two feet inside the south portal and ends six feet inside the north portal; the distances are reversed along the opposite wall. The approaches are paved. The structure rests on abutments that have been either faced or rebuilt with concrete.

On the exterior, the heavy timbers that form the trusses (and side walls) of the bridge are sheathed with unpainted flush boards hung vertically. Similar siding protects the ends of the trusses immediately inside the portals. The siding stops short of the eaves to leave strip openings along the tops of the walls Along the middle of each wall, there is a long strip window with a hood formed by projecting siding.

The gable ends are sheathed with boards and battens hung vertically; the boards are painted red and the battens are white or unpainted. The portal openings are rectangular with diagonal upper corners. The medium-pitch gable roof is covered with corrugated metal sheeting.

Upper Cox Brook Covered Bridge, Northfield Vermont South portal and east elevation (1974)
South portal and east elevation (1974)