Barrackville Covered Bridge, Barrackville West Virginia

Date added: July 21, 2024

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The Barrackville Bridge is an excellent example of a modified Burr Arch Truss, which, except for the sidewalk (wart) added in 1934, is in substantially original condition.

After the Northwestern Turnpike (Route 50) was completed, Col. Crozet planned another road across the mountains, the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. For the center section of this route, all the main river crossings were built originally by West Virginia's most famous bridge builder, Lemuel Chenoweth of Beverly in Randolph County. Chenoweth's education was minimal, for he attended schools financed by state penalties and fines and which were only in session for short periods of time. Initially, he built furniture and wagons, but when bids were asked for state bridges he decided to try his hand at building something bigger. Some small Bridges in the Weston area were built by Chenoweth, so that when the time came to bid for the bridges on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, he had developed an arch-truss design of the Burr-type that he felt would be competitive.

He constructed many bridges on smaller routes at the same time he was fulfilling his contract on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. In 1852, he built his most celebrated structure, the Phillipi Bridge over Tygart's Valley River, a two-lane, two-span (138'-8" each) covered bridge, that was the site of the first land battle of the Civil War. A year later with the help of his brother Eli, he built a wide, single-lane bridge across Buffalo Creek at Barrackville in 1853. When the Civil War commenced, his building activity ceased, and he sat out the conflict at his home and watched many of his works destroyed by either the Union or Confederate troops. He rebuilt his hometown bridge at Beverly seven years after it had been burned in 1865. It was his last work and it lasted until 1953.

Of the many excellent covered bridges once found in West Virginia, only three, Phillipi and Barrackville, both by Lemuel Chenoweth and the Carrollton Bridge, remain standing along with some relatively small country spans. The bridge at Philippi is maintained as a historical relic and all three bridges carry daily traffic, although the Philippi and Carrollton bridges do so by means of steel girders, concrete decks, and added piers. The Barrackville Bridge is the only major covered bridge in West Virginia that supports its vehicle loads with essentially no modern reinforcement, a tribute to Chenoweth's masterpiece.

Through the good offices of the Ice family, who were mill owners and Confederate sympathizers, the bridge was spared during Jones' Raid, on April 29^th, 1863. It is located near the 18^th Century site of Ice's mill.

Bridge Description

The Barrackville Covered Bridge at Barrackville, Marion County, West Virginia, is twenty-four feet in width. The road surface is approximately eighteen feet wide, while the sidewalk on the east elevation is about six feet wide.

The Barrackville Bridge has a total length of 145'-93/4" excluding the eaves of the roof. The main framing consists of two multiple Kingpost trusses each of which is flanked by a pair of arches. This is a typical Burr Truss system with sixteen vertical posts. The panel at the center span and the panels at either end have cross diagonal bracing (a variation from typical Burr Truss design which consists of all diagonals inclined toward the center) while the remaining panels have only one diagonal.

The bridge floor is supported by the lower chord of the truss. The road surface of 2" x 4" timbers is laid on edge perpendicular to the flow of traffic and supported by 11" x 3" stringers (laid face down). The stringers are then carried by both the secondary transverse members (3" x 12" x 19'-0") spaced at one-foot intervals and the main transverse members (8" x 15" 19'-0") on 10'-2" centers.

Making up the roof truss of the structure are a series of transverse members reaching from the vertical posts of one truss to the other. Between each of these transverse members is cross bracing of 4" x 6" pieces secured by treenails (wooden pegs) and wedges.

The foundation for the bridge consists of a north and south abutment built from stone cut into squares of approximately three feet with no mortar used. The transverse members directly over the ends of the arch are supported additionally with 9 1/4" x 9 1/4" vertical timbers. Four vertical posts of the truss are connected to the arch ends which in turn are located on concrete pedestals poured on the abutment (a modification of the original supports).

The siding was not added during the original building, but horizontal shiplap sheathing was placed on the bridge approximately twenty years later by R. L. Cunningham to protect the bridge from the elements.

In 1934, C. A. Short of Shinnston was hired by the State Road Commission to repair the bridge. He added a sidewalk (sometimes called a wart), improved the approaches, reinforced the bridge truss with steel rod hangers from the arch to the bottom chord, and painted it again.

In 1951, the State Road Commission added supports to the floor stringers.