Dents Run Covered Bridge, Laurel Point West Virginia
On March 5th, 1889, Martin P. Fox and others filed petitions with the Monongalia County Court to build a bridge across Dents Run at or near the residence of Edward W. Brand, near Laurel Point. Brand, a member of the court, was appointed to contract for the construction of the bridge. On June 6th, 1889, Brand reported that he had contracted with W. A. Loar to build a bridge for $448.00 ($198.00 for stonework and $250.00 for the woodwork). After the contract was approved, Brand was appointed to superintend the construction of the bridge. Loar constructed the stone abutments and William and Joseph Mercer built the superstructure. On December 3rd, 1889 the courts ordered that $448 be paid to W.A. Loar for the construction of the bridge.
The West Virginia Department of Highways placed steel I beams under the deck of the bridge to give the bridge additional strength. A controversy developed in late 1972 and 1973 when Dippel and Dippel Coal Company wanted to open a coal mine and subsequently use the bridge in transporting coal across Dents Run. Area residents protested and the coal company constructed a concrete bridge nearby.
The Dents Run Covered Bridge is the only remaining covered bridge in Monongalia County and one of two covered bridges left in West Virginia that utilize the kingpost truss design.
Bridge Description
The Dents Run Covered Bridge is 12 feet 10 inches wide and the bottom chord is 40 feet long making one of the shortest extant covered bridges in West Virginia. It has lap siding painted red and a standing seam metal roof.
The truss is of the kingpost type and has two 9 x 9-inch diagonals extending from the notched ends of the 9½ x 13½ bottom chord to the mortise and tenon joint of the 8½ x 12½ inch center post. Braces, 6 3/4 inches square, extend from two feet above the base of the center post to about the middle of the diagonals. Metal straps bolted to the center post help to secure the center post to the bottom chord. Other metal tension straps, extending from the transverse roof beam to the transverse floor beam, on both trusses, support the transverse floor beam on which the stringers rest. Unique components not found on any other existing covered bridge in West Virginia are the U-shaped iron hangers, spaced on three-foot centers and bolted to the bottom chord. It is thought that the hangers functioned as supports for transverse floor beams that once supported wooden stringers. 9½ x 11-inch timbers have been spliced to the bottom chords on the west side of the bridge, probably in an attempt to strengthen the members, and six American Standard I-beam stringers, placed on the abutments and supported at mid-span by a transverse floor beam support the deck and have replaced the original timber stringers.
North side elevation (1981)
