One rainy afternoon in June, Natalie and I boarded the bridge-mobile with the intent of putting the bridges of Vermont to bed. We headed west and drove to the Brattleboro area. The beauty of covered bridge hunting in the rain, is the bridges are covered.
Presenting our first bridge of the evening...
The Hall Bridge is located in Rockingham, VT.
We could tell this bridge was well loved and was taken care of by its community.
Other bridgers have been here before us, including Benny and June, who wrote Natalie's guide to New England Covered Bridges!
A view of the Saxton's River.
If you look carefully, you can see the house that neighbors the Hall Bridge. They also sold eggs. Just in case someone, not allergic to eggs, needed to make an omelet while visiting the bridge.
The Hall was also attempting to create a bulletin board of the history of the bridge. It appears to still be in its infancy.
Another family that collects its mail on a covered bridge! A girl can dream.
There is a less permanent looking sign announcing the name of the bridge on the far side of the bridge.
Next it was on to the Vermont Country Store to visit their bridge.
What a cute bridge it is! Most of you probably know, the nickname for covered bridges are kissing bridges. The Vermont Country Store Bridge celebrates that nickname!
Natalie takes a picture of the history of this bridge.
Oh look it is a combination kingpost and queenpost truss system!
Natalie fakes her excitement over this type of truss system.
I love a well labelled bridge.
Another sign for this kissing bridge.
This was a great poem about covered bridges being a love shelter. Too bad the picture didn't come out.
The Vermont Country Store!
We shopped around the Vermont Country Store. They have EVERYTHING! Clothing, retro candy, salted meats, and cheese. It is definitely worth the trip, plus, I don't know if you have heard, but there is a covered bridge there.
We drove three minutes down the road, took a bridge and it was another bridge. Just like taking candy from a baby...
Take a look look at the Worrall's bridge!
The guardrails leading up to the Worrall's Bridge.
Not the covered bridge...just a railroad crossing bridge.
Such a beautiful lattice truss...
Natalie loves a beautiful lattice truss!
This is the first time we had to walk across railroad tracks to get to a bridge.
There it is, the Bartonsville!
This bridge rebuilt in 2012, after it was destroyed by Hurricane Irene.
Love the windows on this one!
The Bartonsville crosses the Williams River!
This one is a beauty!
A very noble bridge!
The bridge was reopened in January of 2013!
I'm a little jealous of these neighbors, who practically have a covered bridge in their backyard!
Next stop, the Kidder!
This bridge was built in 1870.
This bridge was either built by someone whose favorite number was 1995 or it was reconstructed in 1995.
The Saxton's River flows underneath the Kidder.
Artistic side view of the Kidder.
The Kidder had 3 foot tall laminated beams that were placed for extra support for the bridge. They were hard to climb on, no bloggers were harmed in this adventure.
Natalie takes a picture of the floor of the Kidder.
Caught ya!
As many of you know, we love bridges and we love cheese! The next bridge, combines both! The Cheddar!
If it wasn't raining and if we had more time we would have loved to explored the nearby trails of the Cheddar.
A new view of the Saxton's River
Benny and June have been here, too!
This was a familiar love poem written by "Jack."
Covered Bridges are for lovers...
This bridge is covered (pun intended) with lots of literature about covered bridges.
Natalie on a bench in the park.
A long view of the Cheddar.
Natalie checks out the cheese store sign.
Sadly they were done cheesemaking, by the time we rolled into town. Someday Grafton, someday!
Next we continued onward, to this sad next bridge. The Scott.
The Scott was the longest covered bridge in Vermont. Now it is closed.
Natalie is looking for trolls or other mysterious creatures that hide in covered bridges.
This bridge does look unsafe, even to the untrained eye.
Hello in there?
Natalie found this bridge particularly sad.
A view of the West River.
The community is looking to save the Scott Bridge read more about it
here.
The next bridge was a serendipitous moment. We were driving to our final VT covered bridge, when we looked to our left and spotted a wonderful site down a hill.
We have no idea about the real name of this bridge, so we deemed it the "IKEA bridge."
The Swedish love their bridges and their organizational systems.
This bridge was located in a deserted area. There was also a security camera on the bridge. Needless to say, this blogger was a bit freaked out visiting this bridge.
Shortly after this picture was taken, I screamed and bolted to the car when a bird flew overhead.
Ok, back on track. Next it was onto the Snowbridge for our final Vermont Bridge!
This final bridge crosses a trail on Stratton Mountain Ski Area.
This bridge is 50 feet long and has a stringer truss system.
Natalie has her posting face on...word is out, VT is done!
185 bridges, this sight doesn't get old.
Celebrating checking another state off the covered bridge list! We are celebrating with the sparkling cider we found in Stowe. My goal was to not create the same vomiting episode that I experienced when we finished the Granite State. Lucky for me (and Natalie), no vomit!
Go social media!
The Green Mountain State has treated us well. We have met a lot of people along the way. We saw some wonderful rest areas, ski areas, mountains, fake moose, and a real living zebra! New England has a lot to live up to, Vermont! Vermont Strong!
