Poole's Mill Covered Bridge

Poole's Mill Bridge is a historic wooden covered bridge crossing over Settendown Creek in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States, built in 1901. It is 96 feet long.

Poole's Mill Covered Bridge
Nearest cityCumming, Georgia
Coordinates34.29093°N 84.24255°W / 34.29093; -84.24255
Built1900
ArchitectJohn Wofford, Bud Gentry
NRHP reference No.75000593[1]
Added to NRHPApril 1, 1975

Circa 1820 Cherokee Chief George Welch constructed a grist mill, saw mill, and a simple open bridge at the site on this tributary of the Etowah River. Welch continued to run and maintain the mills and bridge until the Cherokee removal in 1838.

The land that held the bridge and mills was won in the land lottery by John Maynard of Jackson County, Georgia who sold the land to Jacob Scudder. Following Scudder's death in 1870 the mill and bridge were bought by Dr. M.L. Pool. A cotton gin was added at the site in 1920 but cotton was all but abandoned by local farmers when the poultry industry was introduced.[2] The mill was left in disuse by 1947 and was burned by vandals in 1959.

The original bridge that stood at the site was washed away in a flood in 1899.[3] It was decided that a new bridge in using the Lattice truss bridge style would be built on the site. The design called for wooden pegs to be driven holes bored into wooden beams to hold the design together. The beams were cut on site at the saw mill, but the holes were bored in the wrong positions. At this point the construction was taken over by Bud Gentry, who oversaw the redrilling of the holes. The misdrilled holes can still be seen in the bridge's beams.

In the mid-1990s the bridge began to sag and a revitalization effort began. A support pier was built in the creek in the middle. During this revitalization private citizens also donated land in the area to allow the creation of Poole's Mill Park.[4]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Pooles Mill Covered Bridge Trail". www.trails.com. Retrieved 2010-11-26.
  3. Bramblett, Annette. "Poole's Mill Historic Area". Georgia Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on 2010-04-03. Retrieved 2010-11-26.
  4. "Poole's Mill Bridge". Georgia Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on 2010-03-31. Retrieved 2010-11-26.

Further reading
  • Poole's Mill Covered Bridge, by Katie Caldwell, Georgia Backroads, vol. 7, No. 2, Summer 2008, p. 6.
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