October 8, 2024

The last day of the trip is spent traveling south on the very scenic byway of Vermont Route 100. Again the morning fog filled the valleys.

The first stop is at the Waitsfield Bridge, also called the Great Eddy Covered Bridge, the Big Eddy Bridge and the Village Bridge. It is east of Waitsfield center and crosses the Mad River. The bridge was built in 1833 with a span of 100 feet and is the second oldest bridge in Vermont and has had many repairs over the years. A flood in 2011 caused by Hurricane Irene pummeled the side of the bridge and it survived. The walkway was added in 1940. Despite signs to the contrary kids jump off the roof and the side openings doing stunts into 12 feet of water below.

I continue to head south and come to Warren Covered Bridge in Warren that crosses the Mad River. There are several strange features that the overhang on the east side extends further than the other end. Another feature is that the trusses are covered with siding on the inside and prevents inspection. It has been extensively renovated.

The Warren waterfall is actually series of falls very popular in the summer with multiple pools. I don’t think that I found most of these falls because I only have two photos.

The Granville Falls or Moss Glen Falls is quite a spectacular horsetail falls right along side the road (Route 100). You have to walk from the parking area on the inside of a guard rail to separate you from the traffic on the road. I photographed it from all possible angles so here are a few of the best. You may think the photos are not straight as the falls appears to be tipping to the right, but I assure you they are straight. I also like the silky effect from long exposures making almost abstracts.

Here is a nice red barn along the road. In the lower right is a Ford tractor just like the one that I drove on the farm as a kid.

Texas Falls is a spectacular waterfall through very narrow gorges carved after the ice age 10,000 years ago.

There is more good scenery along Route 100 on the hills.

At this time I take a little diversion to Woodstock, VT because it has several covered bridges. The Lincoln Covered Bridge on Route 4 in West Woodstock was built in 1877 and is the only example of a wooden Pratt Truss bridge in the US. Wikipedia has an interesting description about the bridge and renovations.

Next I see the very colorful Taftsville Covered Bridge over the Ottauquechee River in the Titusville village of Woodstock. Three bridges washed away in the early 1800s and the one that still stands was built in1836. It was extensively damaged in the flooding of 2011 and reopened in 2013. It is 189 feet long and built with two spans.

The Quechee Covered Bridge is actually a steel bridge built in 1970 as a 70 foot span over the Ottauquechee River. It also has a pedestrian walkway alongside. The rocky gorge waterfall is also quite impressive from an old mill dam.

In Weston Vermont is the Weston Old Mill Museum. “Built in 1785 as a sawmill, and later as a grist mill, its collection of early trade tools and products includes equipment used in farming, cheese making, coopering, blacksmithing, woodworking, weaving and spinning, and tinsmithing.” Weston Historical Society

Early the next morning in Manchester, Vermont there is the Mead Mill and later called the Kimball Mill that has been repurposed today as a real estate office. It has a nice water fall and Mill pond. “An early mill was built in town by Timothy Mead on land given to him for the purpose of building a grist mill in the area. This may have been as early as the late 1700’s. The photo shows the falls on the West Branch of the Batten Kill. In 1825, Myron Clark arrived in town and purchased the Mead Mills, which included a tannery, woolen factories and distillery.”

In Bennington, there are three more covered bridges, all within two miles. The first bridge is called the Silk Road Bridge, built in 1840 across the Walloomsac River. It was damaged by a flood and repaired in 2011.

The second bridge is the Burt Henry Covered Bridge, built around 1830 or 1840 and completely rebuilt in 1089. The siding provides a lattice so that light may enter. It is near Bennington College and the historic Henry House to the south nearby.

The third and final covered bridge of this trip is the Paper Mill Bridge, built in 1889, and is similar in design to the Silk Covered Bridge. It is adjacent to a former paper mill building. It was rebuilt in 2000.

This concludes my epic trip through NY Adirondacks, Vermont and New Hampshire, a trip that I had dreamed of and planned four times previously.