Recognize this covered bridge?
Built in 1985, this bridge stretches thirty-six feet to an island with a city park.
[To view a higher-resolution photo, click on the image.]
Photograph by Dean Abramson
Maine has three dozen or so covered bridges, so that narrows the field. Many are of relatively recent construction, leading you not down some historic path but rather to a novelty end — a mini golf hole, for example, or a family campground. (The state only recognizes nine as “historic” covered bridges.) This one is tethered to the past, if only because of its location. Put in place in 1985, the bridge stretches thirty-six feet across a narrow river channel and lands you on an island that's home to a city park with a festive name. If it had been built three hundred years ago, it likely would have been set to the torch; this southern Maine community was among the hardest hit by the French and Indian wars. By the time of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the budding city had taken the name of Pepperrellborough (it was later renamed after its resident river) and had begun to earn fame as one of Maine's great manufacturing centers. Have you ever crossed this bridge? Send us a comment below, drop us a note at PO Box 679, Camden, ME 04843, or whip us an e-mail at editorial@downeast.com.
Click here to guess the location of this mystery photo
and to read comments by other DownEast.com users.
Comments may be edited for spelling. Profanity is discouraged. If you'd like your comment considered for inclusion in the magazine, please include your hometown and state.
Reader Comments:
This bridge was built by the Saco Jaycees to access Jubilee Park on the Saco River in 1981 (according to the sign on the bridge). I just wish I had photographed the bridge from the angle that this photographer used!