The childhood home of my mother, Lois C. was located at the far end of this bridge. "On tother side o' the river," as it were. It was the "brown house", the left one of the two there I believe. The house burned to the ground later but this is an original picture that made it through the years. However, as you see in the second picture the bridge was rebuilt - more on that below. Ma was born Bradley, later to become Dunn, and much later (after Pop passed on) to become Kendall. She and Pop, Vernard E. Dunn met at the other end of this bridge and it was pretty much love at first site. However it was to be later after other events unfolded that they would be married. Be that as it may, this covered bridge and by association all others became a special part of Lois' life forever. Although this beautiful example of a covered bridge was torn down at some point, the parts were saved. Throughout my mother's life her family and friends alike, as well as Pop, and later even her second husband, Norman Kendall filled her life with covered bridges. They took the form of pictures, post cards, sampler's, dish towels, calendars, pot holders, knick-knacks, and trips to see "just one more" covered bridge. These pages will start out with a collection of post cards found in my mother's keepsakes after she passed at age 87, a few pictures I took while my wife and I stayed with her the last six years of her life, and whatever other images I can come up with right now. Later I hope more will be added.

Those of you who made a very early visit to this page will probably note there are some changes to this opening information and bridge. This is due to my dear, and always loveable cousin, Gay, pulling me up short (with velvet gloves) and pointing out that I had the wrong bridge, even though they were both in the same town. (I knew that!!!) You'll find the other one on the second page now. Bless Gay's heart, she was trying to be sooo circumspect about my errant ways but as soon as she jogged my memory and sent these photos (that I recognized), I knew the jig was up. Some of our other great cousins, Bernie and Ila Sylce from VT had previously provided Gay with the following info about the pictures and bridge(s). Bernie and Ila are older than Gay and I and remember better/more - does that make any sense? Well it does, because they were there in that area more, and longer than we. It's only sounding worse - I better shut up - but you know what I mean.

"The Bradley bridge always has been special to everyone. The family lived there so long, right beside it, and it had lots of memories for all of them. They tore the old bridge down and saved all the pieces. The only new parts were what really couldn't be used again. It was put back together exactly like the old one. Our nephew, Tom, built it. We sent your Mom and Lois each an old piece of it."

(Tom was from Ila's side as I recall and your Mom refers to Gay's mother, my Aunt Harriet and my mother's younger sister.)

Ila went on to say, "the bridge is either the 'Bradley' or 'Miller's Run' depending on whom you're talking to. It's one and the same bridge, but older people and younger people refer to it differently. Bernie and Ila"

These pages honoring Covered Bridges are dedicated to my mother, her families, and her friends. May those who have passed on rest in peace - and may the rest of us live on in peace. I know she would like others to enjoy "her" bridges.

Covered Bridges are named sometimes for the town, or the Waterway they span, or the builder, or events that happened on or near them. Most of these starting ones in the gallery are for the town. The other Proper Names given in the descriptions usually depict the name of the water spanned and the other town they touch if there is a different one at the far end. Quite often There is confusion over the names of old bridges as they sometimes take on other designations/nicknames by those who lived around and with them. My old friend Ron Osborne reminded me that jigsaw puzzles have provided images of covered bridges for many people over the years, as they are a favorite subject of those popular pastimes.

"The bridges were covered for one reason - to keep the rain and snow from the massive working timbers. The alternate wetting and drying out of uncovered wooden structures would have resulted in rot and failure decades sooner."

There were less and less of the old covered bridges around as the years went by and took their toll. I know New England in general and NH in Particular did not have the market cornered on covered bridges but those are the ones I have pictures of at this time. I also know they got scarce in other areas of the US as well, before they started preserving, restoring, and protecting them as historical monuments. Other members of my family have more pictures and I hope they will send them to me by e-mail or snail-mail so I can scan them and add them on to these pages. Also anyone else who sees them and has some they wouldn't mind sending me, please do. No matter where they are from. I will be more than happy to include them and I will return the originals as quickly as possible, I promise. Please include all the info you have on each picture you might send - such as you see in the Gallery listings.

A big majority of the bridges I started out with are no longer around. I have included exactly what was on the post cards and then added what else I've found on them this way: (Ed. - .....). I have given credit where the photographer was listed, etc. I do not intend to step on any toes or slight anyone (or get in any trouble). If you know of further facts or corrections please inform me. If you know of any copywrite infringement it is unintentional, so let me know and I will delete the item in question. If you have any comments or questions please e-mail me. Thank you and enjoy the pics of these fine old structures.

My word! Have I just found something for you if you really like covered bridges. My covered bridges pages are just kind of an amateur display with (I hope) help from family and visitors. However I hit a search for covered bridges and found a site by a photographer from PA who travels around taking pictures of them all over the eastern part of the country. What a list he has - and with pictures of many of them. I can only give you the address and not a link, as he has no e-mail contact info on his site so I couldn't get permission for a link. Oh yeah, you are supposed to get permission when you actually make a link on your site to another's site.

Here 'tis: http://www.net-thing.net/~bridges/index.html Ooops, it turned into a link, by accident! I don't think he'll mind. It's not like the "rush of traffic" will shut him down or anything. Please, (as always) don't forget to come back here too.

Another small website has the best yet most interesting general facts regarding covered bridges that I've found. It is located at the following: http://www.state.me.us/mdot/maint_op/covered/coverbrg.htm

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