As I mentioned in the previous post, my in-laws were in town from Oregon this past week. We spent most of our time with them at my brother-in law’s house in Bucks County, PA. Whenever the kids became restless and bored just “sitting around and talking about nothing” (their words), we ventured out to the local parks to allow them to tire themselves out.
On Saturday, just as park visit number three (Tyler State Park) was coming to an end, we drove past a sign indicating “covered bridge” and figured, why not? We had some time to kill. So we parked and headed down the steep steps to check it out:
After a short walk in the woods, we came upon the Schofield Ford Covered Bridge:
It was pretty damn impressive and a lot larger than I expected, especially when looking at it from a side view:
While we all looked on in awe at the unique construction and read up on the history behind the bridge, the kids just threw rocks into the river below:
Some interesting tidbits we learned from the signs on site and later from a google search:
- The bridge was originally built in 1873 using native hemlock wood planks.
- The bridge was burned to the ground (most likely due to arson) in 1991.
- By 1997, the bridge had been rebuilt just as it had been in 1873 using post and beam construction and wooden pegs rather than steel bolts.
Construction inside the bridge:
The “boys” at the other end of the bridge:
A ton of horse traffic on the bridge:
There are six diamond shape windows with views of the Neshaminy Creek:
The horses cross the creek and the kids jumped for joy when they saw it:
The funniest part of the trip to the bridge was my daughter’s disgust at all the horse poop. She is not acting in this photo, I had to carry her for most of the walk to and from the bridge:
She could have done without the whole educational trip to the covered bridge and just gone back to the play ground:
As for the rest of us, we enjoyed the unexpected discovery and as is often the case, some of the coolest things are in your own backyard.
Back to gardening tomorrow my friends.
John
Had a friend in college who lived near a covered bridge, in fact that was his address. (yes in Pennsylvania). Nice pictures of the bridge, inside and out. Sorry your daughter had issues with the horse poop. Mine would check it out (with a stick probably), kids are funny.
Oh how I miss my home state PA and all the covered bridges! This is such a great post. Little trip down memory lane for me.
What great pics and especially love the silhouette photos. Those should be framed, seriously!
Your kids are adorable.
xx
A
oh, that’s a marvelous bridge! what a great find! (and i don’t mind horse poop one bit…)
What a beautiful bridge! Loved getting to see that! Thanks for sharing!
That is a marvelous discovery. I live an hour away from the Bridges of Madison County bridges and they have covered them with red paint of course. I like the natural look.
What a great bridge! I loved seeing the covered bridges around when we lived in Ohio…. not something you ever see in California that’s for sure so I loved it.
It always amazes me to find the wonderful things around us that we have taken for granted. How wonderful that you took the time to explore this bridge. I love that photo of your family members at the opening of the bridge in silhouette.
I grew up in bucks County!!!!
Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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Such a cute expression!!! Don’t you just love covered bridges like this one. Sadly, you don’t see too many around here.
Awesome pictures John… So peaceful looking. What a great find!
Covered bridges: awesome. Horse poop: Not so much. Looks like it was a great day!
Who doesn’t love covered bridges? Aren’t they enchanting? If I were king, there would be a covered bridge in every county.