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Vermont may not have many escalators but it makes up for it in covered bridges. Nothing could be more “Vermont” than the iconic covered bridge. Vermont has a lot of them—103 to be exact—and they are real, not the ersatz, Disneyland-like structures more likely to be found elsewhere.
But, according to the Covered Bridge Society http://www.coveredbridgesociety.org/cb-faq.html Pennsylvania has the most covered bridges in the United States—213. Ohio is second with 148. But they are much bigger states, and some of their bridges are new.
As a result, Vermont’s classic covered bridges are crammed into a much smaller space. They are literally everywhere—one for every 93 square miles. In Pennsylvania, in contrast, there one for every 207 miles. In Ohio the number is one for every 303 miles.
Vermont also handily beats its other New England neighbors. According to the website http://www.coveredbridgemap.com/ which lists the “authentic covered brides in the United States” by state Vermont has more than New Hampshire (66), Maine (14), Massachusetts (13) and Connecticut (8) combined.
The longest covered bridge in the United States is shared by Vermont and New Hampshire (but maintained by New Hampshire). The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge spans the Connecticut River. It is 450 feet long in two spans and was built in 1866.
The Smolen-Gulf covered bridge in extreme northeastern Ohio is actually longer than the Cornish-Windsor Bridge at 613 feet but it was built in 2008.
Why were cover bridges built in the first place? Some have proposed that it so horses would not be afraid of the heights. Other have postulated that it offers shelter during bad winter weather. But the real reason is decay. The wood structure supporting a covered bridge is out of the elements under a covered bridge. So it lasts much longer and justifies the additional cost.
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