Bridges of Washington County

Photographed and painted by artist Rita V. Schultheis

Top left bridge is the Root Covered Bridge, located on Route #6, 4.4 miles from Cutler. The Root Bridge was built in 1888, and spans the West Branch Little Hocking River.

The top row center bridge is the Bell Covered Bridge built in 1888, and located on Township Road #39, crossing the South West For, South Branch Wolf Creek.

Far Top Right covered bridge is the Hune Covered Bridge built in 1877. The Hune Bridge is located on Township Road #34 over the Little Muskingum River near the Wayne National Forest Canoe Access.

Middle row left side bridge is the Harra Covered Bridge, built in 1871. The Harra Bridge is located on Township Road #172 and spans the South Branch Wolf Creek.

Second from left in the middle row is the Mill Branch Covered Bridge. The Mill Branch Bridge is located at the Barlow Fairgrounds, and was built in 1832.

Center row from the right is the Schwendman Covered Bridge built in 1887. Now resides on private property along County Road #8.

Center row far rifht is the Henry Covered Bridge, built in 1892. The Henry Covered Bridge is located along Township Road #61, across the West Branch Little Hocking River.

Bottom Left Side is the Hildreth Covered Bridg (also know as the Hills Covered Bridge.) The Hills BRidge was built in 1881. It crosses the Little Muskingum River along County Road #333.

Bottom row center is the Shinn Covered Bridge. The Shinn Bridge was built in 1886, and is located on Route #570, spanning the West Branch Wolf Creek.

The bottom corner right side side bridges is the RInard Covered Bridge, built in 1874. The Rinard Bridge also spansthe Little Muskingum River, located at the Junction of State Route #26 and County Road #406

The ten covered bridges in Washington County illustrates six different truss designs. The most common truss type, the Multiple Kingpost truss, is seen in the Bell, Mill Branch and Schwendman covered bridges. A Kingpost truss consists of two pannels with a compression memeber in each panel mortised into a tension member. A multiple Kingpost truss is  a Kingpost truss with four or more pannels. The Shinn Bridge is a Kingpost with Burr Arch truss, a combination of a wooden arch with a Multiple Kingpost. It was patented in 1804 and was designed to strengthen the basic truss.

A lengthened version of the Kinpost truss, the Queenpost, is illustrated by the Henry Bridge. The Root, Harra, and HUne bridges are long truss designs. This truss first used around 1830, consists of a series of boxes X's with three or more panels making up the entire truss. An Ohioan by the name of Robert W. Smith Patented by the truss design bearing his name in 1869. The Smith truss can be seen today in the Rinard Bridge. The Hidereth Bridge stands out as an example of the Howe truss, which implements the iron rod into wooden truss design.

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