Rensselaer/Washington Counties

Buskirk Covered Bridge -- NY 32-42-02/58-04 The Buskirk Covered Bridge remains closed in preparation for repairs. A routine annual inspection discovered a severe structural defect in the truss. The Rexleigh and Eagleville Covered Bridges, which were closed due to heavy snow, have now been reopened. Design work on rehabilitating the three Washington County covered bridges is nearly completed and the projects will be going out for bid soon so construction can begin in the spring.

Herkimer County

Salisbury Center Covered Bridge - NY 32-22-01 Peter Usselmann, Chairman of the Planning Board in Salisbury Center recently informed us that rehabilitation work on the bridge will begin in the spring and bids will be going out soon. Looks like a busy summer for the bridges in that area.

Tompkins County

Newfield Covered Bridge -- NY 32-55-01 Mark your calendars for July 26, 2003 when the Newfield Covered Bridge will be celebrating its 150 Birthday Celebration. More information will follow in future articles.

Other News

New York State Driving Tour -- Do you have any idea how many routes you can take to visit our covered bridges? As we progress with this project, we are learning there are many! What's the best? Thanks to a weekend with our friend, and covered bridge expert, Richard Donovan, we hope we have come up with the best route. Unfortunately, there is no route that won't include some backtracking, but we have tried to keep that to a minimum. We would like to thank all the wonderful folks who have called or emailed with their support and volunteered to take the 'test drive' for us. We should have a rough draft to you soon.

Ohio -- The Teegarden/Centennial Covered Bridge, OH 35-15-05 suffered minor damage following an arson attack on February 23. This lovely bridge was moved back to its original location in November of 2002 after a $300,000 rehabilitation using federal and state funds, plus $50,000 from Columbiana County. Fortunately, the bridge was coated with three coats of fire retardant which are believed to have helped keep the damage to a minimum. Columbiana County was home to three historic covered bridges between 1988 and 1992 all lost by fire. One was rebuilt, and the others are gone forever.

Covered Bridge Society of Virginia -- The first planning meeting to organize the Virginia Covered Bridge Society was held on February 19, 2003. We can always use another Covered Bridge Society to help with preservation efforts. They are also in the process of designing a web page http://hometown.aol.com/vabridgelady/myhomepage/index.html). If you have any suggestions or would just like to offer your support, contact Leola B. Pierce, 757-484-4404 or email her at VaBridgeLady@aol.com

Oregon Covered Bridge Society -- Thanks to Bill Cockrell for informing us about a new CD that has been produced by the Oregon Department of Transportation: A Guide to Oregon Covered Bridges. Bill worked with the Department of Transportation on producing this CD and it is fabulous. The photos, maps, directions and information are excellent. And best of all, it's free! For more information, contact: bridge@odot.state.or.us or write: Oregon DOT, Bridge Engineering Section, 355 Capitol Street, Room 301, Salem, OR 97301- 3871.

Bedford County, PA -- For those of you who may not have heard, three men, Luke Bartholow, 19 of Schellsburg, PA and Edwin Sanders, 19 and Shawn LeFever, 17 both from Lancaster, PA, were arrested for setting fire to the Ryot Covered Bridge PA 38-05-17. Luke Bartholow pleaded guilty to arson and will testify against Edwin Sanders who is jailed awaiting trial this spring. Shawn LeFever was sent to a rehabilitation facility after he acknowledged his role during a juvenile court hearing in December. He was also sentenced to pay one-third of the $300,000 it will cost to rebuild the bridge and perform 200 hours of community service in helping rebuild it. LeFever has agreed to testify against Sanders who has said he is innocent. Bedford County Commissioners have decided to rebuild the 75-foot-long bridge using the county's share of state liquid fuels money.

Amazingly enough, almost all of the suggested punishments we received from folks were focused around sharing in the cost of the rebuilding of the bridge, community service and assisting in locating funding to rebuild the bridge. All excellent ideas! Thanks to all of you for sending in your suggestions. The next time this happens, please don't hesitate to call or write county officials suggesting these punishments.

Another Covered Bridge Endeavor - As active Bridgers, we are often asked if a comprehensive list of all covered bridges that ever existed has ever been compiled. To our knowledge, there isn't one, but individual covered bridge or historical societies may have one for their state or area. Special thanks to Richard Donovan and Richard Roy for providing us with a great beginning to this project (over 800 lost bridges). We would like to take it one step further and add as many others as we can to this list. If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. We have designed a form that will assist you in your research and also indicate the type of information we would like to record on each bridge. Seem overwhelming? We thought so too at first, but once we got started, it really isn't difficult at all and we have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from the research. What has been really interesting is to see just how we lost these bridges. Most have been lost to arson, flood, wind, snow, and collapse . . .but not necessarily in that order. Surprised? We were too. It is truly amazing, and once completed, this listing will be a tremendous wealth of historical information. For more information, feel free to email us at: bobtrish68@clarityconnect.com.

Mail Pouch Tobacco Barns-- As Covered Bridge Enthusiasts travel across the country in their quest for covered bridges, the will often become interested in other unique things . . . Round Barns, Outhouses, Octagon Barns, Windmills, Lighthouses, etc. It is almost inevitable. One thing that has caught our attention is the Mail Pouch Tobacco Barns. Much like our covered bridges they are disappearing fast. If you would like to learn more about these unique structures, visit this great web site: www: mail-pouch.org A group, Mail Pouch Barnstormers, has recently been formed to help bring awareness to this wonderful part of Americana.