 Last Leg |
Cleveland, OH → Ashtabula, OH → Cleveland, OH 153.0 mi (246.2 km) |
 More 2021 Adventures |
Let’s cover some history, everyone!
In the last couple of days, I met up with my good friends, Sam & Danielle, and their new young’un, Noelle to help pack for an upcoming move! When preparing to change houses, there’s no better assistant than a busy beaver, you know! Of course, not every hour of the day could be spent packing. Some had to be set aside for history, which meant seeing some neat sites in Ohio!
About an hour northeast of Cleveland is the city of Ashtabula, which is a reworking of a Lenape word meaning “always enough fish to be shared around.” Today, it’s more known for its covered bridges, the most in any one county in the entire US! We weren’t going to have time to see all of them, but we’d at least see the longest, the shortest, and a significant one! The longest is the Smolen-Gulf bridge, dedicated on August 26, 2008. It’s 613 feet long and 93 feet above the Ashtabula River!
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15 miles to the southwest, we arrived at the Nationally Registered Harpersfield Bridge. Built in 1868, this bridge carried the title of Ohio’s longest before the Smolen-Gulf came along and usurped it, 140 years later. This 228-foot bridge is a two-span Howe truss bridge. What the heck is a Howe truss bridge, you ask? Well, William Howe was a famous American architect and bridge builder who developed a new truss system in 1840. A truss is a little harder to describe. You might recognize one by the triangular shape its support beams make as they connect to nodes along its span!
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You might also wonder why covered bridges are such a thing here. We’ve only got 10 in all of California like the Felton, Bridgewport, and Knights Ferry covered bridges. The big difference is that winters in California are milder than the ones in the Midwest and East Coast! Covered bridges are covered to keep the supports dry during winter, which keeps them stable for longer! The last thing anyone wants is for a bridge to give way underneath them, though I’m not sure a cover would have saved the Silver Bridge in West Virginia…
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Anyway, driving with a young’s meant this would be a short expedition, as short as our third and final bridge, the West Liberty Street Bridge in Geneva City, which, at 18 feet, is the shortest covered bridge in America! You can really see the triangular truss shape in the roof. This bridge was built by local students at the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School to replace a less fun culvert (see what a culvert looks like) and add some touristy fun. Since opening on October 8, 2011, this little ol’ bridge has done just that!
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So, while we didn’t cover all the bridges of Ashtabula County, we sure did see some neat ones. It was a nice reminder that, even during a busy schedule, there’s always time for a mini adventure to discover and learn about local history. I don’t know when I’ll be back to Ohio next, but I’m sure there will be even more surprises awaiting here in the Buckeye State!
A-river-derci!
Last Leg |
Total Ground Covered: 1,162.0 mi (1,970.1 km) |
More 2021 Adventures |