Qualla: Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge

Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dan Keck from Ohio, CC0. Some bridges have luck, and some bridges have a recurring problem with fire. The Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge had the latter. It was built in 1874 to replace a Raccoon Creek covered bridge that an unknown arsonist had burned four years earlier. The county put up a thousand-dollar reward for the original arsonist's capture, which was a substantial sum in 1874, but the reward was never paid. The 1874 replacement carried road traffic across the creek southwest of Wilkesville for almost 140 years - longer than most covered bridges anywhere - and then in 2013 someone set fire to it too.

Image: Dan Keck from Ohio | CC0

Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge: The Humpback Profile

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Don O'Brien from Piketon, Ohio, United States, CC BY 2.0. The bridge got its nickname from its silhouette. Most covered bridges run flat - level deck, level roofline, walls perpendicular to the road. The Ponn bridge was different. Its Burr arch truss design carried a 19-inch camber, an upward curve in the trusses that gave the roofline ...

Image: Don O'Brien from Piketon, Ohio, United States | CC BY 2.0

Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge: Built by Tax

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jonathunder, Public domain. The story of the Ponn Bridge is also a story about how communities respond to deliberate destruction. Within days of the 1874 arson, Vinton County officials imposed a special tax to fund a replacement bridge. They hired Martin McGrath and Lyman Wells to lead the construction. The...

Image: Jonathunder | Public domain

Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge: Vinton County's First

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dan Keck from Ohio, CC0. In April 1973 the Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places - the first site in Vinton County to receive the designation. Hope Furnace near Zaleski, the iron furnace that once smelted ore for Ohio's iron belt, followed a month later. The Z...

Image: Dan Keck from Ohio | CC0

Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge: The 2013 Fire

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, CC BY-SA 4.0. On the morning of June 6, 2013, the Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge was found burned to the ground. Investigators concluded that the fire was deliberately set. As of the most recent reports, no suspect has been charged. The 139-year-old bridge that had survived more than a century o...

Image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD | CC BY-SA 4.0