Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The Barn Across the Creek



Ramp's Covered bridge in Hopewell Township, outside of Newburg, PA, isn't really a barn, but it is the last covered bridge in Cumberland County. Built in 1870 (or 1882, depends on where you look) it is a Burr Arch Truss Construction structure built across the Conodoguinet Creek and, since 1980, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
You can, as I did, still drive through this. Experience the wooden deck with the plank tire tracks. I looked around inside until I heard a car coming, so quickly I had to figure out which way he was coming so I knew which end to bail out of. It was cool, the older gentleman rolled down his window and we chatted briefly about the nice weather then he drove on and I went about my exploring. As old and obviously historic this bridge is, in the past few years, some idiot tried to drive a truck, too big for the bridge, through it and someone else tried to set it on fire.
Legend says that the reason they covered the bridges and painted them red was so cattle would cross the water thinking they were going into a barn.

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