Colchester Covered Bridge, 1834-1948.
The Colchester Covered Bridge was located two miles below Downsville and was built in 1834 for $800. This two span bridge, with Warren truss and wide buttresses was one of longest covered bridges in New York State; stretching 318 feet over the East Branch of the Delaware River in the hamlet of Colchester. The builder is unknown but it is thought that might have been built by Jack Davidson, a lumberman and builder who drew all the lumber by oxen team from his Campbell Mt. Farm. It took a whole winter to get all the lumber ready and it was probably sawn in one of the sixteen water powered up and down sawmills operating on Campbell Mt. The bridge was constructed with eighteen inch hand hewn timbers joined together with iron strapping. Originally the bridge had one pier but later a second pier was added to strengthen the structure. The bridge was closed to traffic in the summer of 1947 by Delaware County and put up for sale. No buyers bid on the bridge and on January 1, 1948 the south end of the bridge collapsed into the river, the County burned the remaining parts of the Colchester Bridge on December 14, 1948.
Cooks Falls Covered Bridge, 1864-1948.
The Cooks Falls Covered Bridge was built in 1864 by James William Coulter. This 125 foot single span, one lane bridge used the Town Lattice design. On October 17, 1913 this bridge was nearly destroyed in a dynamite explosion. The Downsville News reported that after a night of drinking, three men employed by the George I. Treyz’s Acid Factory, John J. Van Gorden and his two sons, Wilford and Earl broke into the A. Leighton Co. store, stole a box of dynamite and fuses intent on destroying the Cooks Falls Bridge. It was said that the blast was heard over a half a mile away and the force cut the lower cords of the bridge separating it from the upper side, blowing off most of the roof and side boards into the Beaverkill River.
Even though the bridge was badly damaged it was determined that the bridge could be repaired and Sherman Francisco was hired to reconstruct the bridge. A
proposition to build a new covered bridge was held in Colchester in November of 1913, but the proposition was voted down 229 to 6. The repaired bridge was used for another 17 years until it was dismantled by the Delaware County road crew in 1948.
Downsville Covered Bridge 1854.
The Downsville Covered Bridge was the first covered bridge built by Robert Murray. Murray was paid $1,700 to build the bridge and he had to bring all his own supplies. The bridge was constructed of hemlock and white oak with a Long Truss design stretching 174 feet long over the East Branch of the Delaware River.
Its restoration in 1988 cost $975,000 and used new beams underneather the bridge which were manuafactured by Undadilla Laminated Products. These beams were the longest glued laminated beams that that company had ever produced.
The roof shingles were made by Dick Wilbur using his 1910 shingle splitter from lumber cut in Colchester by Reuben Merrill and trucked by Leonard Shaw. Edwin Young was the local contractor hired to complete the roof and side boards on the bridge.
Robert Murray was born in 1814 in Scotland; he emigrating with his family when he was nine. Mr. Murray built nine covered bridges in Delaware County, only the Downsville and Hamden covered bridges have been saved.
Beaverkill Covered Bridge
Pepacton Covered Bridge
Hood’s or Brock‘s Covered Bridge Built in 1846 this bridge was located on the William Hood farm at the foot of Cat Hollow. The first bridge at this location was built by Dr. Adam Doll, a local physician and Town Supervisor in 1806-07. The Hood’s Bridge replaced the Doll Bridge, which was built around 1800. John and Peter Brock were both carpenters and owned the land on the opposite side of the river from the Hood farm. Peter is credited with drawing the plans for the bridge, taking subscriptions to pay for the materials, and organizing the bridge bees to build the bridge. This was the only bridge above Colchester before the Pepacton Bridge was built in 1857. The Hood’s Covered Bridge was destroyed in the 1902 flood, when a large log took out the
center pier collapsing the bridge into the river. Half of the bridge was swept down the river crashing and catching on the center of the Downsville Covered Bridge; fast currents then pulled it under and down the East Branch.
Rockland Covered Bridge, 1830-1948.
The Rockland Covered Bridge came across Spring Brook about a mile above Route 7 at Rockland just within the borders of Colchester. This single span 125 foot bridge was built in 1830, used Town lattice trusses with a Queenspost arch and buttressed sides. The builder was a man named Davidson and James Taylor, a carpenter also worked with Davidson on the Covered Bridge. When Delaware County highway department determined that the Covered Bridge would have to be replaced in 1948, Russ Hodge negotiated with the County to purchase the bridge. Hodges made arrangements with a contractor, Mike Wilcox, to build new abutments and have the bridge moved 1500 feet upstream onto his property. In the book Spans of Time, Ward E. Hermann wrote: “While Russ Hodge was vacationing for a month at the Thousand Islands, the Highway Department went in with power saws and cut off all the side and cross trusses half way up. The bridge was then toppled into the stream, dismantled and trucked away. Thus another wood bridge was lost to society by man’s impatience.”
Click HERE to read about the Historical Corbett Roebling Bridge
Colchester Historical Society 