The trusses that once supported the old Greenbanks Covered Bridge are to be reconstructed allowing the removal of a pier and a pair of steel girders that have provided temporary bracing for the old span since they were installed back in the 1970s. Also, the deck system and the roof will be replaced.
         The bridge was inspected in October of 1994 as part of a state-wide study of Town owned covered bridges sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The inspectors recommended that the community close the bridge to traffic and construct an adjacent bypass, or replace the bridge and move it to a nearby preservation site. The cost to replace the bridge was estimated at the time to be $315,000.
         Steve White, Administrative Assistant for the Town of Danville has been tracking progress in the effort to get work started to preserve the Greenbanks Hollow Covered Bridge under the National Covered Bridge Preservation Act.
         The engineering consulting firm Hoyle, Tanner Associates of Manchester, NH has been authorized by VTrans to study the bridge. "They've got them on line as consulting engineers," White said. "And we (The Town of Danville) are working right now with some easement issues. The Selectboard has given the OK to close traffic on the road during construction and to utilize the three rod right-of-way."
         Project Manager Susan Scribner said that a meeting will be scheduled in two to three months, said White, when she has heard from Hoyle, Tanner and plans for the work can be completed. "They are looking for a 2002 construction season which is one summer away."

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MT. ABRAHAM UNION HIGH SCHOOL'S APPLIED ARCHITECTURE II CLASS STUDIES COVERED BRIDGES
The Assignment- Working in groups of three, build a 1:24 scale model of a covered bridge in our area. (Paul Stetson, Instructor )
Kate Pellegrini - The bridge project was very interesting and integrated building the bridge in the woodshop with finding mathematical formulae, drawing and constructing a "to-scale" model. The process began back in September with a 'Vermont Covered Bridges" field trip.
         Back in September, the class visited five Vermont covered bridges. Our job was to learn about each bridge by taking measurements of each covered bridge. We visited the Quinlan, Sequin, Charlotte, Shelburne Museum and the Lake Shore bridge. We found a lot of similarities and differences between the bridge's sizes, constructions, trusses, arches and materials used. Each group of two or three people blindly picked a bridge. We picked the Shelburne Museum bridge.
         When we returned to school, the project was continued by deriving a formula of 1':2". Every measured chord and beam was adjusted to scale and those were the measurements that we would use for the building of the bridge.
         The Shelburne Museum bridge was a two lane bridge with a gate and a covered walkway. We created several drawings of the bridge. They included a portal view, views of the floor, ceiling truss, and side arches from the point of inside the bridge. We also had a side view, top and bottom view from standing outside of the bridge.
         The Shelburne Museum Bridge had a kingpost with a burr arch. To secure materials, we used a variety of methods including glue, nails, and dowels. My group members were Darin and Lindsay. We started off by building the floor of the bridge. While we nailed dowels in, we also cut the dowel pieces to size and then chiseled off the excess that stuck out of the bridge. Then we started to construct the roof truss. These pieces were a little. harder to fit properly because the middle chords ran at angles, and the chords had to be constantly sanded down to the appropriate sizes. After we built the walkway's roof truss. Next, we worked on finding the height and angles of the roof's slope. Each triangular piece had to fit at the same point as the others. Then we attached the triangular pieces on each crossing ceiling beam and then hammered varying lengths of 3/8" wood in tiered fashion as shingles across the roof.
         We used many techniques to build the bridges and the bridge was constructed in multiple kingpost with a burr arch. It's finally done and it was a great project.
Lindsay Spaulding - When we started this project, we took a field trip to the Charlotte area and took measurements of all the bridges and made sketches. After we compiled all of our measurements and sketches, we selected a bridge to build.
         Our "lucky" group got stuck with the Shelburne Museum bridge, one of the only double lane bridges in the state. In addition to the double lanes, our bridge also had a walking path.
         Once back at school, we drew several drawings of our bridge in the scale that was decided. We drew side, front, and underneath views. We also had to draw the truss looking at it from the inside and a view looking up at the supports in the ceiling sections.
         When we started the construction of our bridge, we first made the floor level. We followed the same patterns that other groups used because we couldn't get underneath the bridge to view the structure. Next, we made the ceiling section. I started on the floor boards, nailing each strip of wood to the floor structure. Kate worked on the roof trusses, while Darin began the four main trusses. We all switched back and forth and worked on different jobs.
         More recently, Darin and I completed the trusses with the vertical kingposts and the corresponding diagonals. Next Darin nailed the trusses into place on the floor boards, while I finished the shingles on the roof. I worked on the weather boarding on the sides and Darin has been working on the foot path. The foot path seems to be its own little bridge in itself.
         The construction of our bridge was difficult but when it was completed it didn't seem that long. With two other students working with me, all the pieces fit together making a beautiful structure.
         This project was one that I'll never forget. To spend an entire semester building a covered bridge was truly amazing. The finished project is something I'll keep for a lifetime. There's more to covered bridges than just wood. Heidi Neil - The covered bridge project was good. I liked actually working on the bridges, although they took a lot of time.
         I liked learning about the bridges; some of the stuff that we learned about was really interesting. I also liked going and looking at the bridges. I thought it was a good idea for us to take measurements of all the bridges. I thought that it was a good project. I really enjoyed it.
A Word From Instructor Paul Stetson - The Applied Architecture courses at Mt. Abraham use a "hands- on" approach to study the field of Architecture. In Applied Architecture I, students complete units on: Geometric Shapes in Buildings, a study of famous architects including Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, designing a Dream House, designing a Mouse House, Structures, Roller Coasters, interior design, and Tree Houses. Students felt there was a need for a second level of the course so they approached me to develop one.
         The Vermont Standards that these courses assesses include: 1.15 Speaking; 2.2 and 2.3 Problem Solving; 6.4 Historical Connections; 7.7aaa Geometric and Measurement concepts; and 7.19 Designing Solutions.          This is the first year the Applied Architecture II class is being offered. I have always had an interest in the design and history of covered bridges and felt this would be a good topic to explore. I also wanted to combine drawing and design work with the actual building of scale models.
         The Covered Bridge unit began with a discussion of the essential questions: Why were bridges covered? What is the Vermont folklore about covered bridges? How are covered bridges built? How many covered bridges are left in Vermont?
        We next discussed the vocabulary related to covered bridges. This included names of building members and tools used. We also studied the different truss systems used in the bridges. Many thanks to Joe Nelson and Ed Barna for the information they included in their books on covered bridges.
         In early September we took an all day field trip to the five covered bridges in the Shelburne, Charlotte, Ferrisburgh area. Students were divided into groups of three and were given tape measures and paper. They proceeded to sketch and measure each building member in the five bridges we visited. On the way back to school we had a drawing to see which group would build which bridge.
         The next few class periods (80 minute blocks), students worked on a set of drawings for their bridge. Using a scale of 1:24, they drew the floor system from underneath the bridge, the truss used to support the bridge drawn from inside the bridge, the exterior side of the bridge, the portal opening, and the ceiling framework drawn looking up while standing on the bridge.
         Once the drawings were complete, we moved the class to the wood-shop and began the construction of the bridges. Students were taught the safety rules of the shop and how to operate the machines. They wanted to make the models as authentic as possible so they pinned many of the pieces together using small dowels.
        The students deserve a lot of credit for working through problems in construction. Through this unit, they learned the history and construction techniques of building covered bridges. Many students commented on how hard it must have been to build these bridges at full scale. They also learned to work together as a team to create some very impressive models.

(This article was edited to fit the limited space in the newsletter. For the complete story with photos, see www.vermontbridges,com/abraham.htm - Editor)

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DELAWARE MAN DEDICATED TO COUNTY'S COVERED BRIDGES
By Patricia Breakey; Oneonta Daily Star - Delhi News Bureau* Delhi, NY - Delaware County's deputy commissioner of public works admits he's obsessed with covered bridges.
         Phillip C. Pierce engineered the restoration of the Hamden Covered Bridge, which is in the final stages, and he has begun work on Fitch's Bridge in Delhi.
         Fitch's Bridge, which spans the West Branch of the Delaware River, above Delhi, off state Route 10, closed Wednesday [Jan. 17] and will remain closed until the restoration is complete. Pierce said if the county's bridge crew could work on the project full time, the project could be completed in about four months, but because of other bridge projects, the bridge probably won't be completed until late summer or early fall.
         Pierce left the private sector to go to work for Delaware County in October 1999. He said he was enticed by a promise that he could work on the restoration of the county's covered bridges.
        "For the last seven or eight years I have been obsessed with covered bridge work," Pierce said. "Or maybe its actually more of a passion."
         Pierce has 30 years of experience with bridge engineering, but in the early 1990s, the company he was working for, McFarland-Johnson Inc. in Binghamton, was hired by the Vermont Agency of Transportation to do a comprehensive study of all of Vermont's 75 covered bridges. Pierce conducted the study, wrote up the reports and found himself hooked on covered bridges.
         Pierce and Wayne Reynolds, Delaware County DPW commissioner, both worked for McFarland-Johnson 10 years ago and have been friends since. When Delaware County needed a bridge expert, Reynolds knew who to call.
         Fitch's Bridge is a Town Lattice truss bridge. The design was patented in 1820 by builder/architect Ithiel Town. The design consists of a horizontal top and bottom chord connected by a web of closely spaced, alternating diagonal timbers. The design, with its inherent strength coupled with its ease of construction, made the Town lattice truss design a popular design for highway and early railroad bridges until the post Civil War era.
         Pierce said that former Delaware County Historian John Raitt supplied him with the history of Fitch's Bridge, which was built in 1870 by James Frazier and Jasper Warren at a cost of $1,970. The single-span bridge of 100 feet originally spanned the river in the village at Bridge Street and was moved to its present location in 1885.
         The bridge was listed on the Historic Register on April 29, 1999, through the efforts of Trish Kane.
         The work on Fitch's Bridge will begin with a unique study to determine how the structure behaves. Reynolds said the nondestructive testing involves attaching diagnostic equipment to the low chord of the bridge, which will produce a mathematical model to make sure the plans are accurate. "Electrical devices will monitor the bridge as a known weight travels across it," Reynolds said.
         Pierce said the testing is the first of its type to be done. After the testing is complete, a temporary structure will be assembled inside the bridge to support it during the restoration process. A few changes will be made in the bridge to bring it back to its original state.
        "The bridge must have been longer when it was at the original site," Pierce said. "The truss was modified to make it fit, which splayed the lattice closer together at the ends. The new trusses will be 8 feet longer, which will mean recasting part of the abutment so the lattice will be parallel. The buttresses, which I call elephant ears, aren't original and won't be replaced."
         The top chord of the bridge will be preserved, but the two bottom chords and the flooring are all junk, according to Pierce. When the bridge is complete it will still have 80 percent of its original material.
         The chords will be Southern pine and the rest of the new wood will be Douglas fir. Pierce said he thinks the bridge was originally constructed of local hemlock. The roof will be wood shingles.
         Pierce has been selected by the Federal Highway Administration to be the principle investigator for a new research project and will prepare an all-encompassing covered-bridge manual to be published by the federal government. He said he plans to use knowledge garnered from his work on the restoration of two of Delaware County's three historic covered bridges in the manual.
         For more information about Pierce's covered bridge projects, visit his website at www.philsbridges.com on the Internet.
         There is also extensive information about projects Pierce was involved with in Vermont and about the renovation of the Hamden Covered Bridge at www.vermontbridges.com.
         The New York Covered Bridge Society's website has photos of the Delaware County bridges before they were restored at www.nycoveredbridges.org.

(Copyright 2001, Oneonta Daily Star. This article appears here with the kind permission of the Oneonta Daily Star for which we of the Vermont Covered Bridge Society are grateful. Mr. Pierce is a Life Member of the Vermont Covered Bridge Society - Editor)

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VCBS INVITED TO VHS EXPO 2001

The Vermont Covered Bridge Society has been assigned a booth at the Vermont Historical Society sponsored Expo 2001 to be held at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds June 23 and 24.
         The VCBS will occupy an eight-foot booth in the Floral Building to be staffed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The society will use this opportunity to publicize its work in preserving our covered bridges with brochures, newsletters, and discussion to recruit support and new members.
         The exhibits planned will be a continuous slide show of covered bridges from the collections of Ed Barna and Joe Nelson and the sale of the limited edition prints of covered bridges from the work of artists Eric Tobin and John Weaver.
         Also to be offered are treenails from Montgomery's Fuller Bridge, covered bridge photo prints, signed copies of Spanning Time: Vermont's Covered Bridges by Joe Nelson, and Vermont's Covered Bridges, by Ed Barna.
         The VCBS exhibition is being assembled by members Ed Barna, Irene Odell, Joe Nelson, and John Weaver with the support of Ruth Nelson and Bill McKone. VCBS members who attend Expo 2001 are cordially invited to join the group by relieving our sitters. Members who would like to have their covered bridge artifacts displayed should contact Joe Nelson at 802.899.2093 or at jcnelson@together.net.
         The VCBS was invited to exhibit at the Expo through the persistence and salesmanship of Irene Odell, president of the Salisbury Historical Society. She is in charge of Salisbury's Ann Story exhibit and will be helping with the VCBS booth as well. We owe her a vote of thanks.

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JOIN US! - HAMDEN COVERED BRIDGE DEDICATION JULY 28
by Trish Kane
         The tents are ordered, the speakers have responded, the band is warming up and sunshine has been requested, all in preparation for the dedication of the restored Hamden Covered Bridge! The Town of Hamden is busy making plans for this special occasion, on Saturday, July 28, 2001. Although there is still much to do, here are some highlights of the day:
         The ceremony will begin at 11:00 a.m. and will be held on the bridge, which will be closed to traffic that day. Special guest speakers will be Congressman Sherwood Boehlert and Senator John Bonacic. Representatives from various covered bridge societies will also give brief remarks. The New York State Covered Bridge Society, Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society, Vermont Covered Bridge Society, The Bridge- Covered, and National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges will all participate.
         Covered bridge enthusiasts will have the opportunity to learn more about the Hamden Covered Bridge from the Hamden Community and Historical Association and to purchase covered bridge items and memorabilia from the many organizations and crafters in attendance. And of course, for those who get hungry, food vendors will be plentiful and a delicious chicken BBQ will be sponsored by the Hamden Community and Historical Association. Plenty of parking will be available on the east side of the bridge via the Town of DeLancey. Watch for parking signs to assist you.
        We hope you will join the Town of Hamden and covered bridge enthusiasts on July 28 for this exciting historic event.

If you are planning to attend and you need overnight accommodations, make your reservations ASAP. Try the following:
Valley Motel in Hamden - 607-746-6707
Octagon House B & B in Hamden - 607-865-7416
Rambling Rose B & B in Hamden - 607-865-8366
Carriage House B & B in Walton - 607-865-4041
Crown Motel in Walton - 607-865-7167
Walton Motel in Walton - 607-865-4724
(Walton Motel Only, ask for rooms reserved by Trish Kane)

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VOLUNTEERS WANTED!
Newsletter Editor: Requirements; Computer with e-mail address.
Duties: Collect stories, edit, and compose the quarterly issues of The Bridger.

Staff writer: Requirements: Computer with e-mail address.
Duties: Write feature articles, assist Editor in collection of stories and rewrite as needed.

Correspondents: Duties: Collect covered bridge stories from their home areas or travels and send them to the editor.

Crafts Committee: To design covered bridge greeting cards, Christmas cards, post cards and stationary, then oversee the manufacture and distribution of the products for the purpose of funding covered bridge preservation.

Candidates please contact Secretary Ruth Nelson, 2 Sugar Hill Road, Underhill, VT 05489, or jcnelson@together.net

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Dear Fellow CB Enthusiast,
We have lost one of our dedicated long-time CB supporters. You may want to include this information in the next newsletter. If anyone wants to write to George's widow, address Jeri Enos at 6188 Chinaberry Dr., Columbus OH 43213-3322.
         Although I have inquired, I have not heard what, if any, memorial preference may have been expressed. If you wish to mention anything, I am sure George would be honored by any donation to the Ohio Historic Bridge Association. Until a new Treasurer is found, I would send any donations c/o Miriam Wood at 3155 Whitehead Rd., Columbus OH 43204-1855.
James R. Crouse

In Memoriam
We are deeply saddened to announce the death of George R. Enos, 72, longtime treasurer of the OHBA, who passed away April 5, 2001 after a long battle with cancer. George was elected treasurer of the OHBA in 1975 and performed his duties willingly and well until the end of his life. A little over two weeks before his death he was present at the March meeting and read his treasurer's report. His last act for the OHBA, just days before his death, was to get the membership cards in order and help prepare the mailing list for this issue of BBB. George was a fine man and all of you who attend our meetings and picnics will remember him. Our deepest sympathy to his widow, Jeri, and their family.

(Mr. Crouse is a member of the OHBA and of the VCBS - Editor)

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Joe Nelson, P.O Box 267, Jericho, VT 05465-0267, jcnelson@together.net

No part of this web site may be reproduced without the written permission of Joseph C. Nelson
Text Copyright © 2000, Joseph C. Nelson
Photographs Copyright ©, 2000, Joseph C. Nelson
This file posted June 12, 2001, revised August 1, 2001