Two lane covered bridge in WV
Philippi Covered Bridge, Philippi West Virginia
The wooden, two-lane covered bridge, crossing the Tygart's Valley River, at Philippi, Barbour County, West Virginia was built in 1852. It is one of only six remaining two-lane covered bridges in the United States. It is the only wooden bridge to accommodate busy federal highway traffic, U. S. 250. The bridge was constructed in 1851-52 to facilitate the 1848 Beverly and Fairmont Road, which had been built to stimulate the use of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, an important link with Richmond and Norfolk. The Beverly and Fairmont Road ended at Fairmont on the Monongahela River, a terminal on the new Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The Clarksburg Democrat printed a request for bids for the bridge at Philippi in May 1850. Contracts were awarded to Emmett J. O'Brien for the masonry work, and to Lemuel and Eli Chenoweth, of Beverly, Virginia, now West Virginia, for the superstructure of the bridge. The foundation proved a lengthy task and an outbreak of typhoid fever further delayed progress. Late in 1852, the bridge was completed at a cost of $12,181.24.
Lemuel Chenoweth, a cabinet, furniture, and wagon maker had been building bridges on the Staunton Road for nearly twelve years. Meagerly educated in "Pauper Schools", established under the Virginia Literary Fund, Chenoweth credited God for his extraordinary talents in bridge design and construction. Contracts for the Staunton Turnpike bridges had been given to Chenoweth, when he took a collapsible model of his bridge 200 miles over the mountains to Richmond. There he demonstrated its sturdiness by placing the model between two chairs and walking the length of the bridge. This model may be seen today in Richmond. The Phillippi bridge remains his greatest masterpiece. With little alteration, the bridge has had continuous use in the nearly 170 years since it was built.
The Philippi bridge figured in an early campaign of the Civil War in 1861 in western Virginia. Union General George B, MeGlellan in Cincinnati, concerned over Confederate raids against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the destruction of bridges in western Virginia, sent Ohio and Indiana troops into the region to secure the B&O for the Union. Confederate Col. George Porterfield commanded a group of local militia and cavalry with headquarters in Philippi. Learning of the movement of Union troops, Porterfield prepared to retreat to the South, but delayed too long. On June 2nd and 3rd, 1861, the Union forces under Col. Benjamin F, Kelley, caught up with the retreating Confederates, and a brief skirmish ensued, resulting in three casualties. Confederate troops, some of whom were sleeping within the covered bridge, hastily fled. Dumont's 7th Indiana Volunteers "captured" the bridge for the Union, McClellan's reports of the engagement sent to Washington were so glowing that the engagement was hailed as a major victory for the Union. This first inland engagement of part, secure the B&O and this section of western Virginia for the Union cause.
At times, Union troops used the bridge as barracks and wartime traffic flowed over it in the movement of supplies from the railroad at Webster, south along the Tygart's Valley to maintain the army of occupation. Many of the other Chenoweth bridges on the Staunton Pike were destroyed. The Philippi bridge remained intact, largely because it was controlled by the Union, whose cause it served.
Reportedly, the bridge was in danger on two other occasions during the war. In 1863, the Confederate raider, Gen. William Jones made plans to burn the bridge. A local citizen, Rev. Joshua Corder, convinced Jones to spare the bridge. Again in 1864, three members of Confederate Company D, 20th Virginia Mounted Infantry were ordered to destroy the bridge. Their commander, Brig. General W. L. Jackson rescinded the order when it was learned that their plans were known.
The old covered bridge has survived the elements, war, flood, fire and vehicular damage for nearly 170 years. In 1952 Philippi and the Barbour County Historical Society sponsored a centennial celebration, at which time a history of the bridge was compiled and published.
Bridge Description
The Philippi covered bridge is a two-lane wooden bridge on U. S. 250 at the junction of U. S. 250 and U. S. 119, crossing Tygart's Valley River at Philippi, Barbour County, West Virginia.
The western abutment is built on solid rock at the level of the river bed and is 25 ft. high. The foundation of the original pier is slate rock about 2 feet below the surface of the river bed. The eastern abutment is three feet below the surface of the river bed on a bed of "stone coal" and built to a height of 20ft. Later, two concrete piers were constructed on either side of the original pier to strengthen the bridge's foundation.
The wooden superstructure consists of two spans with arches of 136-2/3 feet in length, An unusual stringer system is composed of diagonal 3x8 inch, 3x10 inch, and 3xl2 inch, beams, notched half and half into the floor beams and into 6x8 inch timbers placed on, and running parallel with the lower chords. These stringers, being framed into the floor beams and pinned as well, serve as bracing, and no lateral system for bracing is used. A type of fish-plate joint is used for lower chord splicing. The only metal in the bridge is in the form of hand-made bolts used to hold the various members together, but in no case do these bolts take any primary stress, The transfer of load from one element to another is accomplished by direct bearing or by notching. Wedges take care of shrinkage conditions and wooden pins are used in the bracing systems.
Original masonry material was from the Philippi vicinity. The yellow poplar used for the superstructure was cut and prepared in Barbour County. The sides of the bridge are boarded.
In the period 1934-38 the foundation and floor of the bridge were strengthened. Two concrete piers were added to accommodate motor vehicle traffic. A concrete floor was laid. A pedestrian wall was added along the southern side of the bridge. The rounded portals were squared to accommodate stake bodied trucks. Because of truck damage to the portals, the clearance limit has been reduced to a height of 12 feet. This limit allows most tractor-trailer traffic to use the bridge.
Looking east toward the town of Philippi. A pedestrian walk added to the bridge in 1934 can be seen at the right (1950)
Looking west from the Philippi end of the bridge. The wood is yellow poplar and the iron bolts were hand-made by local blacksmiths, The arches are 138-2/3 feet long. The floor of the bridge has been reinforced and each lane is paved (1950)
Southern side looking northeast (1968)
Interior (1974)
