Kidder Covered Bridge
The Kidder Covered Bridge carries Kidder Hill Road across the South Branch Saxtons River, just south of the village center of Grafton, Vermont. The bridge was built about 1870, and is Grafton’s last surviving 19th-century covered bridge. It is the shortest historic covered bridge in Windham County, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The original covered bridge was constructed circa 1870, and was the town’s last 19th-century bridge until it was rebuilt in 1995. It is the county’s only example of a queenspost truss bridge, and is one of a handful of covered bridges in the state built with a skew.
The bridge was replaced with a new wooden (covered) structure in April 1995.
The Kidder Covered Bridge consists of a single span supported by two flanking timber queenpost through trusses. Iron suspension rods augment the vertical timbers in the trusses. Timbers, joined longitudinally by steel plates, have been added to the bridge under the trusses. The bridge has the form of a parallelogram, with. a skew of 15 degrees from the perpendicular between the flanking trusses. The abutments which support the ends of the bridge are constructed of stone· slabs faced with concrete. The bridge is 66 feet long and 15 feet wide, with a 12-foot roadway.
On the exterior, the heavy timbers which form the queenpost trusses of the bridge are sheathed with flush boards hung vertically. Similar siding protects the ends of the trusses immediately inside the portals. There are no windows or openings in the siding. The gable ends are flat and sheathed with vertical flush boards. The roof of the bridge is covered with corrugated metal sheeting.
Where it is:
The Kidder Covered Bridge is located about 0.3 miles south of the center of Grafton Village, on Kidder Hill Road.
Address:
99 Water St #53, Grafton, VT 05146
Maps:
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GPS:
43°10’8.664″ N 72°36’19.116″ W
Cost:
Hours:
The bridge is on a public road and is always open.
Facilities:
Location Contact Information:
Kidder Covered Bridge Photo Gallery
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