STILLWATER COVERED BRIDGE
Stillwater a small borough on Pennsylvania State
Route 487, fifteen miles north of Bloomsburg and three miles south of
Benton, is the home of a beautiful covered bridge. Built by James
McHenry in 1849, it is fifteen feet and three inches wide with a span of
151 feet across Fishing Creek. The cost was $1,124. It incorporated the
Theodore Burr design which has two long high arches anchored on
abutments at each end and utilizes a multiple kingpost structure. In the
photo the arch can be seen in the middle near the top of the bridge.
This type of bridge construction was very common in Pennsylvania. The
bridge floor or deck has a unique design consisting of a herringbone
planking pattern. It is the only bridge in the county that has this
design.
Authorities closed the bridge to vehicular traffic in
1951. However, it is open to pedestrian use, and there are picnic tables
on the bridge for the public to use. The Columbia County Covered Bridge
Association has taken an active leadership in maintaining the bridge for
its historical value.
Columbia County has the distinction of having the
second largest number of covered bridges in Pennsylvania. There are
twenty-four covered bridges; twenty-one are within the county and three
traverse the Columbia-Northum-berland boundary line. For a description
of covered bridges in Columbia County, see Edwin M. Barton’s pamphlet
entitled, "Covered Bridges of Columbia County, Pennsylvania,"
published in 1972. Pennsylvania’s Covered Bridges by Benjamin
and June Evans, published in 1993, provides a brief but good overview of
the subject. The Columbia County Covered Bridge Association Web site is
http://coveredbrdiges.org.
