The Fuller Covered Bridge (Original)
Montgomery Village, VT
WGN Number: 45-06-05x
Photo by Joe Nelson © 1997
The Fuller, or Black Falls Bridge, stands in the heart of Montgomery Village and is very much part of village life. In season, it can be found decorated with Christmas wreaths and lights.
The Fuller Bridge crosses Black Falls Brook in sight of Route 118. The Black Falls Brook powered the J.E. Smith bobbin factory, and the Jewetts built the fifty-foot span in 1890 to replace an open bridge that had collapsed under the weight of a load of bobbins from the mill. The company built a mill town at the end of the present day Black Falls Road, complete with a fifty-room dormitory and twenty-six mill houses, but no trace of it remains.
The bridge was restored in 1981, but it needed attention again soon thereafter. In early winter 1982, Montgomery's road crew knew there was a problem when a log truck passed the town garage with Christmas lights and pieces of roof rafter clinging to the log boom and dragging behind. There were pieces of roof scattered for a half mile, the road foreman said. "We had just put the lights up for the season." The trucker was obviously feeling very little pain when he drove through the bridge--he scarcely noticed when his boom hooked into the sway braces and dragged the roof off. The bridge served through the winter with the sides braced up with cables and was repaired the next year.
Our thanks to the Town of Montgomery for allowing the posting of the Vermont Covered Bridge Society Welcome patch. For more information about the Montgomery area visit their website at www.montgomeryvt.us.
Fuller Covered Bridge Vital Statistics
| Town: | Montgomery |
| Location: | Fuller Bridge / South Richford Roads |
| Crossing: | Black Falls Brook |
| Date: | 1890 |
| Builder: | S. & S. Jewett |
| Truss Type: | Town Lattice |
| Truss Length: | 50 feet |
| Other Names: | Black Falls |
| National Register of Historical Places Listing Date: | December 23, 1974 |
| Date Lost: | 2000 |
Credits: All pictures, information and descriptions are taken from Spanning Time Vermont's Covered Bridges by Joseph C. Nelson ©1997 and the World Guide to Covered Bridges - 2009 unless otherwise specified.
