Thetford Center Mystery Bridge
Mrs. C. of Providence RI asks if anyone can identify this covered bridge drawn by artist Arthur Gibbes Burton.
Mrs. C's family is native to the Thetford area. The bridge served somewhere in the vicinity of Thetford Center, Thetford Hill and Union Village. The family would like to identify and date the bridge.
It was thought to be the Union Village Bridge, but unless the portal construction was changed over the years, it doesn't match -- the Union Village Bridge gable is extended while the mystery bridge gable is not.
The drawing shows the internal braces characteristic of a multiple kingpost truss. It is not Sayers Bridge with its Haupt truss because the signature arch is missing from the drawing. (the artist neglected to draw the vertical posts, maybe he skipped the arch too.) Also, the portal opening differs. The drawing does not match a photo of the long-gone Post Mills Bridge either.
The Thetford Historical Society records that five area covered bridges survived until the mid nineteen-hundreds and then three were lost to the Union Village Dam Flood Control Project.
If someone can identify the mystery bridge please contact CB Mail Bag through jcnelson@together.net
July 1, 2001
Joe, The mystery Bridge in your "Covered Bridge Mailbag" is I believe the Cook Bridge (45-09-27G) which was removed for the flood control Dam in 1947. In the NSPCB Topics for January, 1957. There is a paragraph which reads as follows:
"The Cook Bridge which used to lead to the Town Clerks house in the section to be submerged, was taken out, and the Buzzell's Bridge just above was floated off its abutments and was destroyed by water held back by the dam."
If you look at a county map today, there was a road leading from just above Union Village and went almost directly north to Thetford Center. This would be from Highway 132 and 113A. Both of these bridges were on this road.
C. Ernest Walker Black & White post card No. 391 depicts the Cook Bridge.
Dick Roy,
NSPCB Historian
