Covered Bridges

There are two covered bridges on the trail, one in Pennsylvania (near the mid-point of the trail) and one in Delaware.

County Bridge #120, Gibson's Covered Bridge, on Harmony

Harmony Hill, or Gibson's, Bridge. Linda and Jason hike across the newly-placed steel beams on the 2003 Hike of the Brandywine Trail.

Hill Road over Brandywine Creek in East and West Bradford Townships is closed due to severe damage to the superstructure caused by Hurricane Floyd. The feasibility study for historic repairs has been completed. The Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Bureau for Historic Preservation approved the proposed repairs. Updated repair design information was being prepared for submission to FEMA for funding approval.This bridge has been closed to automobiles since 2000. The contractor is replacing its wooden substructure with steel beams. Thomas Doan built it in 1872. It crosses the East Brandywine Creek.

Another view of the repair of Harmony Hill Bridge.

It has burr arches.

By contrast, the bridge in Delaware, Smith's Bridge, is a piece-meal replacement of the original structure, which was built in 1839. Just as Harmony Hill is getting a steel supports for its deck now, Delaware inserted steel beams into Smith's Bridge in 1955. At that time, it was considered to be the finest of the four

Smith's Bridge, c. 1955. Source: Covered Bridges of the Mid-Atlantic States, by Richard Allen.

covered bridges in Delaware. The superstructure of this bridge burned in 1962, but Delaware replaced it that year. In 2001, Delaware both replaced the superstructure and refurbished the substructure of this bridge at a cost of $1.2 million. The trail does not cross this bridge, but it skirts the bridge's eastern abuttment.