Pennsylvania Roads - Lancaster Co. - N. covered bridges

Northern Lancaster County covered bridges


Schenk's Mill Bridge, WB across Chiques Creek (same as the last two bridges on my southern Lancaster page), north of Salunga-Landisville on Erisman Rd. When your town names are that ugly together, please don't merge.


The last of the four Chiques Creek bridges on my page (I missed Shearer's on the north side of Manheim), Kauffman's Distillery Bridge is on Sun Hill Rd. just south of Manheim and just off PA 772. These photos are EB, away from 772.


Looking west at this 1874 bridge (originally 1850, then rebuilt).


Jumping east of Lancaster, this is on Hunsicker Rd. but it's spelled Hunsecker's Mill Bridge. Photos are EB across the Conestoga River.


Back west across Hunsecker's Mill Bridge (1843, but rebuilt after Hurricane Agnes in 1973).


The eastern and western portals, respectively, of the mouthful known as Pinetown Bushong's Mill Bridge, the next crossing up the Conestoga on Bridge Rd. Tropical Storm Lee, which brutalized the Siegrist Mill Bridge in southern Lancaster County, required the same sort of ground-up rebuild here, but it was not yet underway in July 2012. When a bridge is closed, the weight limit drops from 5 tons to 0 tons.


Continuing north, the very Amishly named Zook's Mill Covered Bridge carries Log Cabin Rd. (WB) across Cocalico Creek, a tributary of the Conestoga. As you can see, it's one of the few covered bridges that has survived multiple tropical storms, an 1849 original.


Middle Creek Rd. also crosses Cocalico Creek on a covered bridge, SB across Keller's Mill Bridge near Akron. Middle Creek joins Cocalico just north of the bridge.


Erbs Bridge Rd., NB from Rothsville, leads to - what else - Erb's Bridge (the US hasn't used apostrophes in place or (mostly) street names since the first Roosevelt was in office), across Hammer Creek, which is a secondary tributary of Cocalico Creek. Have you noticed by now how hard it is for Lancaster County to use the right font? PA doesn't have a county road system, so they're just not used to signs.


A southward view of Erb's Bridge, built in 1849 and rebuilt in 1887. Let's just pretend that guy is fishing. Right? Right.


Back to the Conestoga River, Bitzer's Mill Bridge, SB on Cider Mill Rd. from Ephrata. Built in 1846, it's the oldest bridge in the county still in service.


The Red Run Bridge (or Oberhaltzer's Bridge) once spanned Muddy Creek (recently enough to still make out the clearance), but now it sits just off to the side, in the southeast quadrant of Red Run Rd. at Martin Church Rd. With nothing to cross, it rests in a forlorn, decrepit state, no longer strong enough to stand alone without a prop in the center. Please save this historic 1866 landmark!


East of all the other Lancaster County covered bridges, I return to the upper reaches of the Conestoga River to deliver the last one on this page, Weaver's Mill Bridge on Weaverland Rd. These photos are EB into East Earl Twp.


Back west across the 1878 span to West Earl. Next stop, Blue Ball!

Continue south for more covered bridges
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