Covered bridges are a nostalgic draw for many

Oct. 6—JEFFERSON — Few pieces of American history have the romantic appeal of covered bridges, yet local experts say common knowledge of them is minimal.

Ashtabula County in Ohio is known for its covered bridges, 19 to be exact, including the shortest and the longest in the United States. To celebrate this unique collection of covered bridges, the county hosts a Covered Bridge Festival each year on the second weekend of October.

"Covered bridges take people back to a different time," said Timothy Martin, county engineer. "Ashtabula County is fortunate to have so many of them in a relatively small area."

Former Ashtabula County resident, author and historian Carl E. Feather reiterated Martin's sentiment.

"There are very few functional, public connections to the 1800s remaining in our county," he said. "The Ashtabula County Courthouse comes to mind as one of them, but the covered bridges are in a unique class because they are accessible day and night. Their architecture is rustic, functional and photogenic. They ooze nostalgia."

A key principal of historical preservation is functionality.

"We lose railroad depots, commercial structures and even old houses because we can't find a practical application for them in the modern world," Feather said. "Without an endowment, these old buildings are doomed to be lost. The covered bridge is self-endowed by its function. As long as it provides passage across the waterway, it earns its keep. and it pays aesthetic dividends in the process."

Historical nature of the bridges

The bridges speak of a time when pioneers had to make due with what the land provided, Feather said. They had plenty of timber, and water power for milling it, at their disposal. Stone for the abutments came from Windsor Township quarries.

Feather said the original, legacy covered bridges are a testimony to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of these people.

The men who designed the bridges, such as Ithiel Town (Town lattice), were historical figures. Town, for example, was a Connecticut-born architect and engineer, one of the nation's pre-eminent in the first half of the 19th century, according to Feather.

"So you have the man who designed the state capitol of Connecticut also designing covered bridges (via patent) in the Connecticut Western Reserve," he said. "Likewise for William Howe, who patented the Howe truss in 1840. The truss enabled railroads to reach westward by providing engineers with a truss that could carry the heavy railroad loads across the streams of the Western Reserve and beyond. and it also worked for horse-and-buggy traffic and 2022 SUVs."

The fact that Ashtabula County boasts bridges designed by former county engineer John Smolen of Jefferson will also, in time, give additional historical status to the wood bridges, he said.

"We can't overstate the treasures that Mr. Smolen and his work are to this county," Feather said. "We are blessed to be his contemporaries; it is like sharing the same time and place with any great architect or civil engineer."

Smolen, who now has own engineering company, said his favorite covered bridge is the first one of nine that he designed and built — the State Road Covered Bridge in Monroe Township. It's a town lattice, built in 1983, he said.

"Covered bridges appeal to people because they are in a rural setting, which is scenic itself," Smolen said. "And, they're historical."