Gudgeonville Covered Bridge

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Coordinates: 41 ° 58 ′ 47 "  N , 80 ° 15 ′ 58"  W.

Gudgeonville Covered Bridge
Gudgeonville Covered Bridge
Crossing of Elk Creek
place Girard , Pennsylvania
Building number 257207040040080
construction Half-timbered structure with a simple hanging beam
overall length 25.6 m
width 4 m
Longest span 22 m
Load capacity 3 t
Headroom 3 m
vehicles per day 200
completion 1868
location
Gudgeonville Covered Bridge, Pennsylvania
Gudgeonville Covered Bridge

The Gudgeonville Covered Bridge was a covered wooden bridge in Girard and crossed Elk Creek in Erie County . The construction was a framework with a simple hanging column. The bridge had been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980 . The bridge was destroyed by arson on November 8, 2008 .

history

The Gudgeonville Bridge was built around 1868 and rebuilt after a fire in the early 1870s. It was designed and built by William Sherman. The foundations of the structure are believed to be the remains of the former Erie Extension Canal .

In today's time

Over the years the bridge has been damaged several times by minor fires and vandalism . There have been several proposals to dismantle the bridge and rebuild it in a safer location to protect it from vandalism. Other proposals are to build another bridge in addition to the original one that will also allow vehicles to cross the creek which, due to their size or weight, cannot use the existing narrow bridge, such as snow plows, fire engines and ambulances.

Superstition

There was some superstition associated with the bridge that it was supposed to be haunted in the structure . Locals believed that the ghosts of children were seen there, falling from the cliff on one side of the bridge. Sometimes inexplicable noises such as hooves clattering on wood were said to have been heard, often accompanied by shrill screams. Another story goes that a donkey was beaten to death on the bridge by its drunken owner for refusing to cross the bridge. According to a variant of this story, the donkey is said to have succumbed to a heart attack after being startled by a steam organ on a river barge that passed under the bridge.

The remains of the bridge

Surname

The name of the bridge is derived from the word gudgeon . The namesake could be the part of a wagon , which is called gudgeon (pin, bolt) in English or the small fish and bait fish in the creek below the bridge, which are also known as gudgeons . A popular explanation for the origin of the name is that the donkey that supposedly faded on the bridge was called "Gudgeon".

Web links

Commons : Gudgeonville Covered Bridge  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pennsylvania - Erie County . National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
  2. ↑ Kara Murphy: Fire destroys historic bridge . In: Erie Times-News , November 9, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  3. ↑ Deborah McQuaid: Graffiti mars historic covered bridge , Erie Times-News . October 15, 2002. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  4. ^ A b c Bob Healy: Public opinion spilt on bridge , Erie Times-News. January 11, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  5. ↑ a b c d Stephanie Wincik [2002]: Gudgeonville . In: Ghosts of Erie County , ISBN 0-9725650-0-0 , pp. 18-21.
  6. ↑ George Brown [1887]: Carp, Dice and Minnows . In: American Fishes ( PDF ), LC Page & Company, Boston 1903, p.  421 (accessed January 26, 2011).