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Dotting the countryside like year-round Christmas cards,

more than 1,500 covered bridges remain to remind Americans of their horse 'n buggy past. Architecturally sound and uniquely suited to the woodland country, these bridges have weathered time with the same ease with which they spanned the nation's streams a century ago.

Though most common in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and the New England States, these sturdy structures can be found as far west as California, as far south as Louisiana, as far north as Alaska.

The Midwestern and central plain states are almost devoid of these landmarks, however, perhaps because the great land rush was to the western coastal states during the 1800's and they did not become densely populated until after the covered bridge era. Not the least of the casualties of the Civil War was the destruction of hundreds of these "kissing bridges." Yet, the wonder is not that so many of these links with the past have disappeared, but that so many remain.

Many citizens are now dedicated to assuring that the covered bridge will continue to add its special charm to rural America: camera-laden tourists wander off the well-trodden path in search of them, artists and poets have become "covered bridge buffs," civic groups for their restoration and reconstruction have come into being.

(Words courtesy Hammermill Paper)

ZUMBROTA

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