West Cornwall Covered Bridge

National Register Of Historic Places · West Cornwall, Connecticut

A red timber covered bridge over the Housatonic in the northwest hills, built in 1864 and still carrying ordinary road traffic - which is the whole point of it. Connecticut has very few covered bridges left and this is the one that never became an exhibit: cars go through it one at a time, the timbers are original lattice truss work with steel reinforcement added underneath in the twentieth century, and the village at the far end is a handful of buildings and a pottery. Below the bridge the Housatonic runs over rapids that are among the best fly-fishing water in southern New England, and in autumn the whole valley turns. It takes about four minutes to see and it is one of the most photographed structures in the state, so the thing to do is build the drive around it - Route 7 up the river valley, Kent Falls, Cornwall Bridge and the Litchfield hills. The steel reinforcement added under the deck in the twentieth century is what has kept it a working road rather than a monument, which is the trade every surviving covered bridge has had to make.

Route 128 at the Housatonic River, West Cornwall, West Cornwall, Connecticut, 06796, United States

Open at all times - it is a public road bridge, not a site, and there is nothing to close. Free. Parking is in a small pull-off on the village side and fills on autumn weekends. The village shops and the pottery keep their own short hours, generally daytime and reduced in winter. The bridge is single-lane and is used by traffic continuously, including at night.

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