Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox bridge The Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge or Mercer's Ford Covered Bridge is a covered bridge that spans the East branch of the Octoraro Creek on the border between Lancaster County and Chester County in Pennsylvania, United States.<ref name="McCain">Template:Cite web</ref> A Lancaster County-owned and maintained bridge, its official designation is the East Octoraro #2 Bridge.<ref name="lancaster.pa.us">Template:Cite web</ref>

The bridge has a single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design with the addition of steel hanger rods. The deck is made from oak planks.<ref name="lancaster.pa.us"/> It is painted red, the traditional color of Lancaster County covered bridges, on both the inside and outside. Both approaches to the bridge are painted in the traditional white color. The bridge has a single window on only one side of the bridge.

The bridge's WGCB Numbers are 38-15-19/38-36-38. Added in 1980, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as structure number 80003509.<ref name="register">Template:Cite web</ref> It is located at Template:Coord (39.93150, -75.98150).<ref name="Travis">Template:Cite web</ref> The bridge is located in Sadsbury Township, 0.5 miles (0.8 km) south of Christiana on Bailey Crossroads Road off Creek Road, to the south of Pennsylvania Route 372.<ref name="padutch">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

The bridge was built in 1880 by B. J. Carter.<ref name="padutch"/> Along with the Pine Grove Covered Bridge (built in 1884), it was one of a number of covered bridges built along the border between Lancaster and Chester counties.

Dimensions

Source:<ref name="lancaster.pa.us"/>

• Length: 80 feet (26.5 m) span ^Note:<ref name="dimensions">McCain's length, clear width, and total width measurements (86 feet (26.2 m), 14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m), and 15 feet (4.6 m) respectively) differ from the Lancaster County government's 87 foot (26.5 m) span length and 15 feet 4 inch (4.7 m) clear deck width. The government's numbers are used, however it is not clear what the correct measurements are.</ref>
• Width: 15 feet 4 inches (4.7 m) ^Note:<ref name="dimensions"/>
• Overhead clearance: 11 feet 6 inches (3.5 m)
• Underclearance: 13 feet 6 inches (4.1 m)

Gallery

• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge Side 3000px.jpg
• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge Lancaster Approach 3008px.jpg
• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge Window 3008px.jpg
• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge Inside HDR 3008px.jpg
• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge Inside 2000px.jpg
• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge Underside 2964px.jpg
• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge-from the air 2.jpg
• File:Mercer's Mill Covered Bridge-from the air.jpg

See also

• Burr arch truss
• List of Lancaster County covered bridges