Hop River Trail Bridge, Andover, CT

Hop River Trail Bridge

You'll have to forgive me for the number of relatively local bridges I'll be posting about for awhile; it's summer, and I've been building up strength from daily bicycle commuting so that I can get to some of the bridges along the Connecticut greenways. Such as today's bridge, the Hop River Trail Bridge in Andover.


The Hop River Trail is a "rails to trails" project that runs along the right of way of the old Providence, Hartford and Fishkill Railroad. These rails-to-trails paths are fantastic for a walk, jog, or bike ride. The Hop River Trail begins in Manchester and runs all the way to Willimantic. The first time I tried to follow the trail all the way, I got stopped right here in this spot, in Andover, because this bridge was not there and all I could do was carry my bike down the hill and look for the trail to begin on the other side. I never did reconnect with it. Even today, there is no clear path up the other side. The people from the east end of the trail must have been equally stymied by what I understand was called the "Andover Gap".

Portal to the bridge (and my bike!)

This Howe truss bridge was built, years ago, in a factory by Echo Bridge in Elmira, NY. There it sat while Andover moved its slow way toward getting the old railroad bridge abutments reinforced and the bridge upgraded to meet changing safety standards. It was finally trucked here and lifted into place back in April of this year. I added it to my mental list of bike-accessible bridges and forgot entirely about it. Which is what happens to mental lists.


Reminded by Dale Travis' covered bridge lists, I plotted out the 31 mile round trip and had a wonderful time this morning. This really is a great trail, and a covered bridge along the way is just dessert. (I didn't go all the way to Willimantic today because it's supposed to get into the 90s... and a 50 mile round trip was pushing it, I felt.)

Detail of the Howe truss

Trail parking is available at several points near the bridge; if you're arriving by car, there is parking just past the east end of the bridge. The trail head is in Manchester, but there is a huge parking lot where the Vernon/Rockville spur meets up with the Hop River Trail. I've never actually been to the far end of the trail and have no idea what the conditions are like there.

Meadow Road Bridge/Pequabuck Bridge, Farmington, CT

Meadow Road Bridge

A few weeks ago, I did a mondo post on every bridge on the national historic register in Hartford County. I got most of them. Except the Pequabuck Bridge in Farmington. I thought the Pequabuck Bridge was the one that the Pequabuck River ran beneath. That was wrong.

Still not the Pequabuck Bridge. Is it?

Or, well, maybe not. Because even the Pequabuck Bridge isn't called that any more; it's the Meadow Road Bridge, because the river was diverted at some point to the new place, and now the only really significant thing about the bridge is the path over, part of the East Coast Greenway, a network of paths and trails stretching down the entire east coast.

From the 1984 application for the national historic register

The Pequabuck Bridge is an arched, brownstone span that was built between 1832 and 1833. It's a rubble stone bridge; the outside of the arch is made of shaped and fitted sandstone, but most of the rest of the stones are roughly shaped or not shaped at all. The bridge was built with a wooden structure forming the arch, the outsides of the arch were fitted on that, including the keystones to hold them in place, and then they filled up the frame with stones and lime-based mortar until they filled it to the top. They removed the wooden frame in the arch, and had themselves a bridge.


The wooden bridges I photograph are usually fairly new because wood bridges just don't last -- even if done in the style of the bridge they replaced, they are not the same bridge. This is the real thing. Stonemasons built this bridge a hundred and thirty years ago, and it still stands today. The only change -- the mortar is now concrete instead of lime. This bridge could easily last another hundred and eighty years, especially now that no river runs through it.


Back in the 19th century, this bridge took people from the crowded town of Farmington into what was called the Great Plain, a large plateau of fields, meadows and swamps. This bridge was, then, a vital part of the local economy and needed to be strong and last. This bridge replaced at least one wooden bridge, and you can easily imagine the frustration the townsfolk felt at having to keep repairing and replacing the wooden bridge, causing them to build a bridge that would last.


Part of the Great Plain area was incorporated as the town of Plainville, so that's how that got its name.

I'm just going to copy text wholesale from the historical register application, because the history of the area and its bridges is fascinating.

In  the  second  half of  the  18th  century  the  quest  for  land  to  cultivate impelled the  sons of Farmington residents  to range  farther and  farther  from the  central  settlement.  Led  by members  of  the  well-to-do Cowles  family, Farmington  people  established  farms  in  the  Great  Plain,  the  area  that  was incorporated  as  the  town of  Plainville  in  1869.  After  the  Revolutionary War,  agricultural-based  commerce  underwent  tremendous  expansion,  as Farmington  farmers  sold  their  surplus  output  to  local  merchants  who assembled  shipments  of  grain and  cattle  to  sell  in  the  nation's  growing cities  or  to  export  to  the  West  Indies.  These  two  trends  of  geographic expansion  and  commercial  growth put  pressure  on  the  transportation  routes over  which  farmers  carried their  goods  to  the  merchants  in  the  center. 
Farmers west of  town,  from the  Great  Plain and  its  northern meadows,  had to cross  the  Pequabuck River,  which  lay  between  their  farms  and  the  town  cen­ter,  so  this  crossing came  in  for  close  attention.  In  1801,  the  town meeting appropriated $200  to  improve  the  wooden bridge  then  in  place.  Then in  1819  the  town  rebuilt  it  entirely,  using timber.

Farmington merchants played an  important  role  in  the  promotion and  financing of  the  Farmington Canal.  The  canal  increased  the  town's prosperity,  making it  a  market  center  for  the  region  including not  only western Farmington  but also  Burlington and Canton.  The  surge  in  road  traffic  that  resulted again brought  the  conditon of bridges to  the  top of  the  town's agenda.  In  1830 a committee  of  the  selectmen plus  two western  farmers,  Richard  Cowles  and Joshua  Youngs,  was  appointed to  study  the  town's  bridges.  Two were  found inadequate:  Pequabuck Bridge  (i.e.,  Meadow Road  Bridge)  and  Perry's Bridge in  the  northern part of  town.  The  relatively greater  importance  of  the Pequabuck crossing  is  apparent  in  the  committee's  recommendation to  rebuild it  in  stone,  while wood was  specified  for  the  new Perry's  Bridge. 

The  recommendations  took  full  account  of  physical coordination  with  the canal,  which Meadow Road crossed about  450  feet  east of  the  Pequabuck River. The  committee made  the  requirements  that  the  new  stone  bridge be  the  same height  as  the  one  over  the  canal,  and  that  an  embankment be  built  between the  two bridges  so  that  travel  would proceed at  a  constant grade.  Without the  embankment,  wagons would have  had  to  climb and descend  two  rises within several  hundred  feet.  The  resolution that  approved the  plan was  contingent on  the  canal  company's  agreeing  to  "raise  and extend  the  Canal  bridge embankment between  the  canal  bridge  and  river  bridge,  in  such manner as  that the  one  may be  adapted  to  the  other;  arid  provided that  the  canal  company will  permit  the  town  to  take  gravel  from the  Company's  ground  for  the purpose of extending the  embankment westwardly  from the  river  bridge." 

The  relative prosperity of  Farmington,  and  the  provision of materials by  the canal  company,  enabled construction of  the  stone  bridge.  Connecticut  towns rarely  undertook  such  ambitious bridge-building  projects  in  the  early  19th century;  the  great  majority  of  town  bridges  in  the  state  were  of  wood.  

There  was  not  even a  mason  in  Farmington who  could perform  the  work,  so Horace  Cowles  took on  the  task of  finding  a  qualified contractor.  His  four finalists  came  from the  towns  of  Windham,  Woodbridge,  Watertown and Haddam. (The  contract  for  the  bridge's  construction has  not  survived,  so  it  is  not possible  to  determine  which  of  the  four  actually  performed  the  work.) Farmington was  not  extravagant with  its  public  expenditures,  despite  opting for  the  more  expensive  stone  construction.  Economical  construction  was assured  by  limiting  the  cutting  and  fitting  of  stones  to  only  the  areas where  it  was  absolutely necessary,  the  outside  edges  of  the  arch.  Even with the  savings  from this  technique,  the  bridge  cost  $1,081,  nearly  twice  as much  as  the  $546  it  took  to  rebuild Perry's  Bridge  in  timber.  The  limited use  of  cut  stone  makes  Meadow  Road  Bridge  highly  distinctive.  In comparison,  Hartford's  Main  Street  Bridge,  another  arched brownstone  span from the  early  1830s,  has  cut-and-fitted masonry  for  the  entire  underside  of the  arch,  the  spandrels  and  the  parapets.

The  idiosyncratic  mix of  finished and unfinished stone  identifies  Meadow Road  Bridge as  the product of a  specific  time  and  place.  Farmington  had more wealth than most  inland Connecticut  communities,  permitting the  use  of the  more  expensive  stone  construction.  But  its  people  still  retained  the basic conservative  impulse  of outlying Connecticut  towns,  and  they would not countenance  the  fullest  application of  expensive masons'  labor.  Thus  Meadow Road  Bridge  illuminates  the  concerns of  a  community as  its  economy  evolved from one  of  subsistence and  local  commerce  to  one of market  growth based  on regional  and extra-regional  trade.  The  bridge  also makes clear  the  impact of  the  Farmington Canal.  Not  only did  the  canal  contribute  significantly  to the  growth of  the market economy,  but  it  altered the  physical makeup of  the town  and  forced  the  townspeople  to  adapt  their  road  system  to  the  new conditions.

Meadow  Road  Bridge  belongs  to  an  extremely  small  group  of  early  19th-century,  masonry  town bridges.  Ante-bellum stone  bridges were  built  by the  Housatonic  Railroad and by  factory owners,  but publicly  funded  stone bridges  were  not  common.  Meadow Road Bridge  and  Hartford's  Main  Street Bridge  are  the  only examples of  their  size  known  to  survive  in  the  state.

Podunk Grist Mill Bridge, South Windsor, CT

The Podunk Grist Mill Bridge

I just discovered Dale Travis' master list of Connecticut covered bridges and thought to myself, these can't be real covered bridges. There's only three -- the West Cornwall one, the Bulls Bridge, and the Comstock Covered Bridge. How can there be dozens?

Well, by including ones that have never carried traffic. But that's okay, because even a decorative covered bridge is at least decorative :)

I checked through the list for some bridges close to my apartment. It's a holiday and I'm not going to get my daily miles in commuting to work so I'd need to go somewhere else (trying to hit 4000 miles on the odometer by Friday, you see). A new bridge is just the thing.

The Mill on the River Bridge takes patrons of the Mill on the River Restaurant from the parking lot to the eatery. It crosses the Podunk River at a dam.

According to the South Windsor History brochure, this covered bridge was historically a foot bridge (probably uncovered) between the grist mill and a saw mill that stood where the parking lot stands now:

In the northern part of town, another crop was raised in large quantities. This was rye; and another street came to be named after it. Rye Street ran through the high land east of the Scantic River. The production of rye led to the building of many distilleries. The Podunk Grist Mill was first built in 1750 and later rebuilt in 1775 after a flood carried off the first mill. The original dam built for the mill was constructed by colonists and Indians, It was first run by Samuel Rockwell. There was a saw mill on the other side of the river and a footbridge connecting the two. Corn, buckwheat and rye were ground at the mill.

It's appropriate on this Independence Day that I'm writing about a bridge originally built just one year before the first Independence Day!

New England bridge books!

Portal to Eunice Williams Bridge

An expanded version of the ghost story associated with the Eunice Williams Bridge can be found in the book "Haunted New England". I saw it while I was down at Barnes & Nobles today. I don't know if there were any other haunted bridges in the book, but if you're really into New England's creepier side... well, this is the book for you.

What other New England bridge books were there? I didn't find any. Luckily, Amazon has some -- including some of the most authoritative books on local bridges I've seen.

"Connecticut's Covered Bridges" is probably going to be a pretty short book, given we only have three active road covered bridges left (the book lists four; they must count that one in Avon). Dale Travis lists dozens of covered bridges in Connecticut, but most of them are pedestrian only.

Bruce Clouette is the expert on Connecticut's historic bridges; the web site version of his book "Connecticut's Historic Highway Bridges" was invaluable to me starting out. He has a new(er) book about Connecticut's Movable Bridges which I can only think would be a subset of the other book.

Now, New England's Covered Bridges by Benjamin and June Evans... that might be worth checking out. I know when I take my vacation in Vermont, I'm going to need to know where these bridges are.

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, North Kingstown-Jamestown, RI

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge

Rhode Island is the country's smallest state but among its most densely populated. With Narragansett Bay splitting the state in two, it has miles and miles of protected coastline -- and a straight shot for any hurricanes heading up the coast, aiming straight for Providence, at the northern tip of the bay. The "island" in Rhode Island is Aquidneck Island, the large island in the bay where Newport stands. It was also known historically as Rhode Island; the mainland portions of the state were known as the Providence Plantations, and that is the full name of the state -- Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

I was headed to Newport this weekend to take in the America's Cup. So very, very crowded. So crowded that I couldn't take the crowds and left to take pictures of bridges and walk around Providence for a couple of hours.

The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge connects the town of North Kingston with the island of Conanicut in Narragansett Bay. It is a concrete box girder bridge with a dramatic rise to allow ships to sail through on their way to Providence. Unlike its partner on the other side of the island, the Pell Bridge, there is no toll on the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge. And though there is a narrow sidewalk on both sides, you cannot walk or bicycle on the bridge.

Giovanni da Verrazzano monument in Providence

It's no coincidence that two bridges in the area (this one and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island) are named after famed explorer Giovanni da Verrazzanno. Unlike Christopher Columbus, who was content to explore the Caribbean and never sat foot on (what would become) North America, Verrazzano sailed up the coast from the Carolinas to Newfoundland, stopping in New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. It was he who, upon seeing Aquidneck Island, compared it to the Greek island of Rhodes and gave the state its eventual name.

There is a monument to the explorer in front of the World War Memorial in Providence.

Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (from Jamestown)

This picture was taken on in Jamestown on Conanicut Island, with the sun to my back instead of right in the camera.

This entire island, and the Kingstown coast, are the exclusive domain of the wealthy. There is no beach access that I could find at all. The first picture was taken from the parking lot of a private club; this one from the side of the road. I got the shots, but I could have gotten better ones.

You can barely see in the above photo, to the left of the central rise, a lighthouse peaking out from behind a column. This is the Plum Beach lighthouse, but I think you'd actually have to be sailing on the bay itself to get a decent picture.

Parking, well, there really isn't any. Plenty of places from which to view the Pell Bridge on the other side, but the west coast of the island is all private property from any possible viewing angle.

Gold Star Memorial Bridge, New London-Groton, CT

The Gold Star Memorial Bridge crossing the Thames

Connecticut sure loves cribbing names from the mother country. London -- sorry, New London -- on the Thames? Though maybe they hadn't actually been to the original London at all, since our version of the Thames is pronounced the way it's spelled -- rhymes with games -- and not the English way, tems.

Once one of the major whaling ports in America, New London continues its maritime traditions to this day. It is the home to the US Coast Guard Academy and Global Dynamics' Electric Boat shipyard, where the US nuclear submarine fleet is built and maintained. Busy ferries carry passengers across Long Island Sound to Long Island, Fisher's Island and Block Island.

The Gold Star Memorial Bridge is a pair of steel deck truss bridges that carry I-95 over the Thames. The first bridge was constructed in 1943, and the second thirty years later. Together, they comprise the largest structure in the state of Connecticut, and by far, the longest bridge.

The bridge is just massive. See how it looms behind those warehouses. It absolutely dominates the river.

Amtrack's Thames River Bridge

Paralleling the Goldstar is the nearly as impressive Thames River Bridge, which carries Amtrak over the river. It consists of four truss spans (Wikipedia calls them Warren truss, but they look like Parker truss to me -- Warren truss bridges have no vertical members) and a lifting section in the middle -- the two towers are a dead giveaway.

Pratt truss railroad bridge

Just before the Thames River Bridge, on the New London Side, is this small truss bridge that crosses a N/S set of tracks. Completely overshadowed by the Goldstar and the Thames River Bridge. Sitting there lonely and rusting.

New London is definitely worth a visit on its own merits; there's lots of remnants of its historic past, its roles in the Revolutionary War and its aftermath. It is one of the earlier settlements in New England. Forts guard the mouth of the Thames. There's even an old sailing ship moored in the harbor.

There's no special place to park for the bridge. It's huge. You'll see it. However, if you're looking for a distinctive place to visit whilst admiring the bridge, why not stop by the Old Town Mill?

Old Town Mill

This mill, built in 1650 by the town of New London's founder, John Winthrop Jr, stands today after having been rebuilt several times in its 350+ year history, including most notably after being torched by the traitorous Benedict Arnold during the British invasion of New London in 1781.


It is literally in the shadow of the bridge.

Train Bridge, Depot Street, Manchester, CT

Train crossing Adams St

Sure, it's not much of a bridge, but it took awhile to get the picture. This bridge is fairly near my house, and the tracks parallels my ride home. Sometimes I meet the train along the way, but always I'm behind it. If I could only get ahead of the train...

I heard the distant sounding of the train horn this morning... I'd only have a few minutes. I grabbed my iPhone and my bike and got to the bridge just before the train.

So; not much of a bridge, but it's a picture I really wanted, anyway.