Buttonwood Covered Bridge

The Buttonwood Covered Bridge is a covered bridge built in either 1878 or 1898 over Blockhouse Creek in Jackson Township, Lycoming County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It uses a queen post with king post truss and is 74 feet 2 inches (22.6 m) long. The bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and had a major restoration in 1998. It is the shortest and most heavily used of the three covered bridges remaining in Lycoming County.[3]

Buttonwood Covered Bridge
Buttonwood Covered Bridge and Blockhouse Creek, as seen from the northbound lane of US 15
Coordinates	41.509894°N 77.130107°W / 41.509894; -77.130107
Carries	Township 816
Crosses	Blockhouse Creek
Locale	Lycoming, Pennsylvania, United States
Official name	Buttonwood Covered Bridge
Named for	village of Buttonwood
Maintained by	Lycoming County
NBI Number	417215081601110
Characteristics
Design	National Register of Historic Places
Total length	74.2 ft (22.6 m)[1]
Width	14.4 ft (4.4 m)[2]
Height	10.7 ft (3.3 m)
Load limit	3 tons (2.7 t)
History
Built	1878 or 1898
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
MPS	Covered Bridges of Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming Counties TR
NRHP reference No.	80003569
Added to NRHP	July 24, 1980
Buttonwood Covered Bridge Location of the Buttonwood Covered Bridge in Pennsylvania

Dimensions

The following table is a comparison of published measurements of length, width and load recorded in different sources using different methods, as well as the structural type cited. The NBI measures bridge length between the "backwalls of abutments" or pavement grooves and the roadway width as "the most restrictive minimum distance between curbs or rails".[1] The NRHP form measures length from "end post to end post", and was prepared by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), which surveyed county engineers, historical and covered bridge societies, and others for all the covered bridges in the commonwealth.[2][4] The Evans visited every covered bridge in Pennsylvania in 2001 and measured each bridge's length (portal to portal) and width (at the portal) for their book.[5] The data in Zacher's book was based on a 1991 survey of all covered bridges in Pennsylvania by the PHMC and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, aided by local government and private agencies.[6] The article uses primarily the NBI and NRHP data, as they are national programs.

Length feet (m)	Width feet (m)	Load short tons (MT)	Truss type(s)	Year built	Source (Year)
77 feet 6 inches (23.6 m)	16 feet 6 inches (5.0 m)	3.0 short tons (2.7 t)	Queen post	1878	Landis (1966)[7]
74 feet 2 inches (22.6 m)	14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m)	11 short tons (10.0 t)	Wood or Timber	Pre-1900	NBI (2009)[1]
63 feet 6 inches (19.4 m)	14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m)	3.0 short tons (2.7 t)	Multiple kingpost and queenpost Burr arch[8]	1898	NRHP (1980)[2]
74 feet 4 inches (22.7 m)	15 feet 8.5 inches (4.8 m)	NA	Queenpost with kingpost	1898	Evans (2001)[5]
57 feet (17.4 m)	14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m)	NA	Burr	1898	Zacher (1994)[6]

See also

• List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania

References

1. Federal Highway Administration National Bridge Inventory (2009). "Place Name: Jackson (Township of), Pennsylvania; NBI Structure Number: 417215081601110; Facility Carried: Buttonwood; Feature Intersected: Blockhouse Creek". Nationalbridges.com (Alexander Svirsky). Retrieved October 30, 2010. Note: this is a formatted scrape of the 2009 official website, which can be found here for Pennsylvania: "PA09.txt". Federal Highway Administration. 2009. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
2. "Pennsylvania Cultural Resources Geographic Information System (CRGIS)" (Searchable database). Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Retrieved November 2, 2010. Note: This includes Zacher, Susan M. and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Buttonwood Covered Bridge" (PDF). Retrieved November 2, 2010.
3. Evans, Benjamin D.; Evans, June R. (1993). Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges: A Complete Guide (1st ed.). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 255. ISBN 0-8229-5504-0.
4. Zacher, Susan M. and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Covered Bridges of Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming Counties" (PDF). Retrieved November 2, 2010.
5. Evans, Benjamin D.; Evans, June R. (2001). Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges: A Complete Guide (2nd ed.). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 200. ISBN 0-8229-5764-7.
6. Zacher, Susan M. (1994). The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania: A Guide (2nd ed.). Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. p. 110. ISBN 0-89271-054-3.
7. Landis, Milton W. (January 1966). "The Buttonwood Covered Bridge". Now and Then (The Journal of the Muncy, Pennsylvania Historical Society). XV (1): 77–81.
8. Note: the Buttonwood Covered Bridge NRHP nomination materials on CRGIS contain two earlier surveys, the individual NRHP nomination form for the bridge, and the Thematic Resources (Multiple Properties Submission) form for the seven remaining covered bridges in Lycoming, Sullivan and Bradford Counties. One undated survey refers to its truss as "M. King & Queen", while the other makes no mention of truss type. Both NRHP forms mistakenly describe the bridge as a Burr Arch truss.

External links

• Pierce, Phillip C.; Brungraber, Robert L.; Lichtenstein, Abba; Sabol, Scott; Morrell, J.J.; Lebow, S.T. (April 2005). "Covered Bridge Manual: Publication No. FHWA-HRT-04-098" (PDF). US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-24. Retrieved 2008-06-26.