Historical Wyoming County July 1956 - Old Fulton History

July 1956 Page 1? 5
COVERED BRIDGE DAYS (cont.)
Kittsley Bridge, Bennington
Vanished Landmark shown in a Photo
taken by Mrs. Elise C. Embt, cl926.
Stc Helena's wooden span, , so stated the late Milton Burnap
during the World War I years, was a covered structure erected in
1835* Again in the familiar lattice pattern for the supporting
timbers, it was 226 feet long with an open approach of fifty feet of
different type construction,, In the words of Mrc Burnap, "This
bridge did good service until 1868 and was getting out of repair
when it was decided to take it away and erect a new bridge of the
truss type of four span,,0" '
While large covered bridges were sometimes toll structures,
there is no evidence that local structures were so financedc We
suspect in many cases that the bridge was erected, after framing, by
a neighborhood "bee0" A barrel of good liquor for bridge and barn
raisings could usually be obtained from a nearby distillery at little
or no cost, if a public event0 A large crowd most certainly gathered
at the raising of a bridge and probably a dinner or picnic followed,,
Oldtimers have-told us that repairs were always a neighborhood respohsility,
and at a signal from the "pathmaster" the men would
gather and complete the worke Often the required materials were donated®
A question asked occasionally is why bridges were covered0
Probably the sole consideration was protection for the floors and
timbers,, As a New York newspaper once reported, the bridges were
covered for the same reason that women's skirts were long in those
modest days--to "protect the underpinning„" Q'thers have advanced
the suggestion that such coverings gave greater assurance to timid
horses and foot passengers,, Perhaps there is something to the claim
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