Fairfax Covered Bridge
National Register of Historic Places

Fairfax Covered Bridge

Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont
Listed
November 5, 1974
Type
Structure
Period
Civil War
Ref No.
74000215

About this property

The Maple Street Covered Bridge, also called the Lower Covered Bridge and the Fairfax Covered Bridge, is a covered bridge that carries Maple Street across Mill Brook off State Route 104 in Fairfax, Vermont. Built in 1865, it is the town's only historic covered bridge, and is a rare two-lane covered bridge in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The Maple Street Covered Bridge is located on the south side of Fairfax village, carrying Maple Street across Mill Brook, a tributary of the nearby Lamoille River, between the village center and Bellows Free Academy. The bridge is a single-span structure of Town lattice design, set on abutments of stone and concrete. It is 56.5 feet (17.2 m) long and 20.5 feet (6.2 m) wide, with a roadway width of 17.5 feet (5.3 m). Iron tie rods join the tops of the flanking trusses to provide lateral stability, and the bridge deck is made of wooden planking. The exterior is clad in vertical board siding, which ends short of the eaves on the sides. The siding extends a short way on the interior of each portal. The bridge was built in 1865 by Kingsbury and Stone. It is the town's only surviving 19th-century covered bridge, and is rare in the state as an example of a two-lane bridge, built to accommodate significant village traffic. A major renovation was conducted in 1990-1991 by Jan Lewandoski. Debate is conducted to this day as to whether the bridge is now "backwards". When it was washed off its foundations by the Flood of 1927 it is unknown whether the bridge was put back on in the same direction as it was originally. Some say the eastern portal now faces west, and vice versa. National Register of Historic Places listings in Franklin County, Vermont List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont Media related to Lower Covered Bridge at Wikimedia Commons

Location

Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont
44.66356, -73.01037

Categories

ENGINEERINGTRANSPORTATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Kemp-Shepard House
Industrial
4.1 mi
Fletcher Union Church
Civil War
5 mi
Ballard Farm
Listed
6.7 mi
Gates Farm Covered Bridge
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6.9 mi
District School No. 8 School
Industrial
7 mi

Nearby Battles

St. Albans Raid
1864Civil War
10.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Fairfax Covered Bridge listed on the National Register?

Fairfax Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 5, 1974.

What type of historic resource is Fairfax Covered Bridge?

Fairfax Covered Bridge is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Fairfax Covered Bridge?

The period of significance for Fairfax Covered Bridge is recorded as the civil_war era, specifically around 1865.

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