Laurel Creek Covered Bridge, Lillydale West Virginia

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On July 19^th, 1910, J.C. McClaugherty (the county road engineer), H. W. Peck and Robert Arnott were appointed commissioner to locate a site for and estimate the cost of building a bridge across Laurel Creek near Robert Arnott's residence. After the commissioners made a report of their findings to the court on August 26^th, 1910, the court ordered that a covered bridge with stone abutments be built at the site selected near Robert Arnott's.

Lewis Miller built the stone abutments and the superstructure was built by Robert Arnott. The oak timbers obtained for building the superstructure were seasoned approximately one year before they were used. Lon Wickline fashioned the chestnut shakes, which originally covered the roof, and the ironwork was done in Ronceverte. On August 22^nd, 1911 the court ordered that Robert Arnott be paid out of the county treasury for the construction of the bridge. The total cost of construction was $365.00.

The Laurel Creek Covered Bridge is the smallest covered bridge in West Virginia and the use of metal tension rods in its construction is typical of the bridges found in the southern part of the state. It is one of the two remaining covered bridges in Monroe County.

Bridge Description

The Laurel Creek Covered Bridge is 13 feet-2½ inches wide and has the smallest span of all West Virginia's covered bridges with a bottom chord length of 24.5 feet. The covering consists of wooden siding painted barn red and a galvanized metal roof, which replaced the original roof of chestnut shakes.

Having no verticals, the truss is comprised of two 5 x 9¾ inch diagonals extending from the ends of the dual membered bottom chord to a point six feet above the bottom chord, where the separation between the diagonals is approximately five feet. A metal tension rod is looped around the transverse floor beam (located below the bottom chord at mid-span) and is bolted to the top ends of the diagonals. A single metal rod extends from the transverse floor beam to the center of the top chord and is bolted to the top chord and the transverse floor beam. Two diagonal braces extend from the top of the diagonals to the ends of the longitudinal roof beam. The deck, once supported on 3 x 12 inch wooden stringers, now rests on seven 6½ x 12 inch wide flange stringers.

Interior showing truss (1973)

Portal (1973)