Bridge and Tunnel
Tucked between sun-dappled trees and a gravely road, over a gurgling stream clear as a window pane, sits a wooden bridge, topped by a shed-like hood overgrown by tree branches, first trod by foot and hoof before the Civil War.
It’s an idyllic rural American landscape, and one that seems more likely in fiction than non-, perhaps populated by pipe-smoking Norman Rockwell fathers hiking their way home to Thanksgiving dinner. But unlike so many talismans of Americana, the covered bridge is one that stands to this day – hundreds of them across the country, built largely in the 19th century and still, in many instances, carrying daily, if minimal, traffic. Out of those 800 to 900 remaining covered bridges spread out across America, according to Thomas Walczak, president of the Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Society of PA, a full one-quarter are right here in the Keystone State.
“We’re proud to say that Pennsylvania has the most remaining, intact covered bridges of any state in the country,” says Walczak. “There are 210 left in the state – but that’s out of an estimated 1500 that once stood here.”
It’s because of those long odds – the once-ubiquitous bridges succumbing to time, weather, and a lack of attention – that Indiana County’s Commissioners charged a group of citizens with the creation of the new Indiana County Covered Bridge Preservation Committee. On September 27, that group will hold the first-ever Indiana County Covered Bridge Festival – a Community Connections Grassroots grant-funded project meant to bring attention to the four bridges remaining in the county, and to help raise funds needed for badly-needed repairs and preservation work.
None of the four bridges in Indiana County is about to tumble into the water. But at the same time, points out Penny Perman, executive director of Indiana County Tourist Bureau, none of the bridges – dating from 1870 to 1910 – is in brand-new condition, either.
“Only [the Thomas Bridge, circa. 1879] is still drivable, and it went through restoration ten years ago,” says Perman. “The other ones are not drivable, and have structural problems – either with the bridge itself shifting, or the foundation underneath – in addition to just needing boards repaired and a coat of paint.”
The Festival will be held in Blue Spruce Park, a setting six miles north of the town of Indiana and within a short drive of each of the four bridges. Besides children’s activities, entertainment, artisans and craftsmen in the park, the Committee has organized guided tours to the bridges that will depart regularly by bus. Festival activities will be held at each of the four bridges, including an antique car show, while back at the park, the Burr Society’s Thomas Walczak will present a slide show of the state’s bridges.
The draw to enthusiasts is obvious: off the top of his head, Walczak rattles off facts about what makes Indiana’s Kintersburg Bridge unique, the way others might name Mickey Mantle’s batting average. (Apparently, it’s one of only four remaining PA bridges utilizing the William Howe’s 1840 ‘Howe Truss’ design rather than the standard ‘Town Lattice Truss.’) But Walczak also understands why the less obsessed find solace in the bridges.
“Some people like the artistic side – sketching or painting them, or photographing them,” says Walczak. “Some enjoy them for the craftsmanship – the old techniques with hand tools, broad axes, these methods that are long-lost arts nowadays, but have [made bridges] that have stood for 150 years. But for a lot of people, it’s just a rural area, in the farmland, away from the city – people just like to get out into the quiet.”
Covered bridges also provide a tourist boost to the area, according to the tourist bureau’s Perman, making their preservation an economic as well as cultural necessity for the County. But mostly, the Preservation Committee just hopes to ensure that these icons of “the quiet” are there for another 150 years.
“Even if they don’t need the preservation now, they’re not going to stand up on their own forever,” says Perman. “It’s thousands of dollars to restore them, so we’re just doing whatever we can to work towards that. We only have four bridges here in Indiana County – we want them to be here for a long time.”
Indiana County Parks and Trails, Covered Bridge Committee’s Indiana County Covered Bridge Festival is a Indiana County Grassroots Project supported by a $5,000 grant from Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections and The Sprout Fund.
