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An excerpt from the “Introduction” of Georgia Covered Bridges
Covered bridges are misunderstood, and the internet does not help. Finding the truth has been surprisingly difficult for a topic I thought would be straightforward. The more I learned about these bridges, the more I ran into conflicting information. The superlatives describing the bridges had to be weighed and confirmed. For example, is Red Oak Covered Bridge really the oldest bridge, and was it built by the famous bridge builder Horace King? Is Watson Mill really the longest bridge in Georgia and the United States? How many historic bridges exist in our state? These delicate covered bridges are in danger of disappearing.
The most asked question has some silly answers: Why were the bridges covered?
Here are some of the false answers for covering bridges:
- They covered the bridges so the cows could cross without fear.
- The covered bridges allowed for all that heavy Georgia snow to fall off easily.
- They built covered bridges for romance. A skillful horseman could train his horse to cross the bridge slowly so he could steal a kiss while in the semi-dark tunnel.
Read my fifth book to learn the real reason they covered bridges in Georgia.
At one time, Georgia had over 250 covered bridges. Now, there are 16 historic covered bridges remaining. Look at the existing bridges on this Google Map, then find the lost ones.