Qualla: Carrollton Covered Bridge

Carrollton Covered Bridge: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. On August 10, 2017, the Carrollton Covered Bridge burned. Investigators determined the fire was arson. The 161-year-old wooden structure across the Buckhannon River near Carrollton, West Virginia - the second longest and third oldest surviving covered bridge in the state - was left heavily damaged. The state could have replaced it with steel and concrete. Instead, West Virginia Division of Highways crews spent the next several years restoring it, mixing salvaged original timber with new wood, and reopened the bridge in 2022. The new Carrollton Covered Bridge is not exactly the old one. But the truss work that has held this span for more than 160 years is, in large part, still doing its job.

Image: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Carrollton Covered Bridge: Built by Brothers O'Brien

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. Emmet J. O'Brien and Daniel O'Brien built the bridge in 1856 to carry the Middle Fork Turnpike, an important connecting route between the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike and the road to Clarksburg. At 140 feet long and 16 feet wide, with Burr trusses incorporating multiple king...

Image: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Carrollton Covered Bridge: The 1962 Compromise

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1962, the wooden decking was no longer safe to carry the trucks and cars that now used it daily. The state could have closed the bridge. Instead, engineers compromised. The wood decking was replaced with a concrete deck, one lane wide, with a sidewalk added. New concrete piers...

Image: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Carrollton Covered Bridge: Listing, Arson, Rebuilding

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. On June 4, 1981, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The designation acknowledged what visitors already knew: that Carrollton was one of the few remaining links to a moment when American transportation was wooden and covered. Bridges like this were o...

Image: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Carrollton Covered Bridge: What the Bridge Still Carries

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. The bridge still carries West Virginia Route 36 across the Buckhannon River. Traffic on the route is light - a few cars an hour - which is part of why the bridge survives where busier crossings have been replaced with steel. The Buckhannon River below flows quietly most of the ye...

Image: Brian M. Powell (user Bitmapped on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0