Ohio Covered Bridges

Cincinnati.com wrote a nice article about covered bridges in Ohio recently. Reading through the article I did notice that were some errors. They stated that by one estimate Ohio has nearly 300 covered bridges in the state of Ohio, and PA beats them by only 1-2 more than that. Right now Pennsylvania has 202 bridges still standing. While I don't know the exact number for Ohio, I know that Pennsylvania has the most bridges, so Ohio has to be less than 200 bridges still standing. Ohio is like Pennsylvania restoring and preserving as many of these fine covered bridges as they can, but like the rest of the states lose a few here and there due to arson, flooding and just the age of the bridge it will just collapse.

The Fred Yenerall Collection has many covered bridges from Ohio. I am still sorting them out by counties, there are quite a few counties that I still need to do. With so many photos in the collection, it does take allot of time.

What I like about looking at the photos of the covered bridges in Ohio is that in 1976 they painted several of the covered bridges in Red White and Blue for the bicentennial. I thought how appropriate that they did to with the covered bridges a link to the past and an Icon to the United States. Without the covered bridges, we wouldn't be the country we are today. They needed the Bridges to move merchandise, to get to the grist mills, and to explore other parts of the country. How much pride they had in their work to have bridges still functioning after 100+ years of use, weather and elements. Not only have many bridges stood the test of time, they are out in the elements taking abuse daily from Mother Nature and still standing up to her.

Covered bridges are truly a gift from other generations to us. We photograph them, visit them and walking or driving through them we image what it must of been like for people when the bridge was brand new. It's a gift that we need to preserve for the future generations.