Buttonwood Covered Bridge
The Buttonwood Covered Bridge is a covered bridge built in either 1878 or 1898 over Blockhouse Creek in Jackson Township, Lycoming County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It uses a queen post with king post truss and is 74 feet 2 inches (22.6 m) long. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and had a major restoration in 1998. It is the shortest and most heavily used of the three covered bridges remaining in Lycoming County.[3]
Buttonwood Covered Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Buttonwood Covered Bridge and Blockhouse Creek, as seen from the northbound lane of US 15 | |
| Coordinates | 41.509894°N 77.130107°W |
| Carries | Township 816 |
| Crosses | Blockhouse Creek |
| Locale | Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Official name | Buttonwood Covered Bridge |
| Named for | village of Buttonwood |
| Maintained by | Lycoming County |
| NBI Number | 417215081601110 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | National Register of Historic Places |
| Total length | 74.2 ft (22.6 m)[1] |
| Width | 14.4 ft (4.4 m)[2] |
| Height | 10.7 ft (3.3 m) |
| Load limit | 3 tons (2.7 t) |
| History | |
| Built | 1878 or 1898 |
| MPS | Covered Bridges of Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming Counties TR |
| NRHP reference No. | 80003569 |
| Added to NRHP | July 24, 1980 |
| Location | |
| |
Dimensions
The following table is a comparison of published measurements of length, width and load recorded in different sources using different methods, as well as the structural type cited. The NBI measures bridge length between the "backwalls of abutments" or pavement grooves and the roadway width as "the most restrictive minimum distance between curbs or rails".[1] The NRHP form measures length from "end post to end post", and was prepared by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), which surveyed county engineers, historical and covered bridge societies, and others for all the covered bridges in the commonwealth.[2][4] The Evans visited every covered bridge in Pennsylvania in 2001 and measured each bridge's length (portal to portal) and width (at the portal) for their book.[5] The data in Zacher's book was based on a 1991 survey of all covered bridges in Pennsylvania by the PHMC and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, aided by local government and private agencies.[6] The article uses primarily the NBI and NRHP data, as they are national programs.
| Length feet (m) |
Width feet (m) |
Load short tons (MT) |
Truss type(s) |
Year built |
Source (Year) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 77 feet 6 inches (23.6 m) | 16 feet 6 inches (5.0 m) | 3.0 short tons (2.7 t) | Queen post | 1878 | Landis (1966)[7] |
| 74 feet 2 inches (22.6 m) | 14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m) | 11 short tons (10.0 t) | Wood or Timber | Pre-1900 | NBI (2009)[1] |
| 63 feet 6 inches (19.4 m) | 14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m) | 3.0 short tons (2.7 t) | Multiple kingpost and queenpost Burr arch[8] | 1898 | NRHP (1980)[2] |
| 74 feet 4 inches (22.7 m) | 15 feet 8.5 inches (4.8 m) | NA | Queenpost with kingpost | 1898 | Evans (2001)[5] |
| 57 feet (17.4 m) | 14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m) | NA | Burr | 1898 | Zacher (1994)[6] |
References
- Federal Highway Administration (2009). "Place Name: Jackson (Township of), Pennsylvania; NBI Structure Number: 417215081601110; Facility Carried: Buttonwood; Feature Intersected: Blockhouse Creek". Nationalbridges.com (Alexander Svirsky). Retrieved October 30, 2010. Note: this is a formatted scrape of the 2009 official website, which can be found here for Pennsylvania: "PA09.txt". Federal Highway Administration. 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
- "Pennsylvania Cultural Resources Geographic Information System (CRGIS)" (Searchable database). Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Retrieved November 2, 2010. Note: This includes Zacher, Susan M. and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Buttonwood Covered Bridge" (PDF). Retrieved November 2, 2010.
- Evans, Benjamin D.; Evans, June R. (1993). Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges: A Complete Guide (1st ed.). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 255. ISBN 0-8229-5504-0.
- Zacher, Susan M. and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Covered Bridges of Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming Counties" (PDF). Retrieved November 2, 2010.
- Evans, Benjamin D.; Evans, June R. (2001). Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges: A Complete Guide (2nd ed.). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 200. ISBN 0-8229-5764-7.
- Zacher, Susan M. (1994). The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania: A Guide (2nd ed.). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. p. 110. ISBN 0-89271-054-3.
- Landis, Milton W. (January 1966). "The Buttonwood Covered Bridge". Now and then (The Journal of the Muncy, Pennsylvania Historical Society). XV (1): 77–81.
- Note: the Buttonwood Covered Bridge NRHP nomination materials on CRGIS contain two earlier surveys, the individual NRHP nomination form for the bridge, and the Thematic Resources (Multiple Properties Submission) form for the seven remaining covered bridges in Lycoming, Sullivan and Bradford Counties. One undated survey refers to its truss as "M. King & Queen", while the other makes no mention of truss type. Both NRHP forms mistakenly describe the bridge as a Burr Arch truss.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buttonwood Covered Bridge. |
- Pierce, Phillip C.; Brungraber, Robert L.; Lichtenstein, Abba; Sabol, Scott; Morrell, J.J.; Lebow, S.T. (April 2005). "Covered Bridge Manual: Publication No. FHWA-HRT-04-098" (PDF). US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-24. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
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