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BY ERIC MODEL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY
The idea was an easy one — just tell folks about covered bridges in New Jersey.
You know, since it's now fall — time for pumpkins, colorful leaves, country inns and covered bridges.
And one doesn't have to go to New England to find all of it (as nice as that trip might be). Right here in our Garden State you can find it all — including the covered bridges.
Among the 2,000 bridges in New Jersey there are a number of covered bridges. However, only a few remain in service.
Now that was the easy part.
The problem is that a covered bridge is not just a covered bridge. There are covered bridges on public roads, there are historical covered bridges on public roads, covered bridges on private roads, and covered bridges that carry no vehicular traffic.
The historic structure is likely the best known in the state. The one that takes center stage is the Green Sergeant's Bridge in Sergeantsville, Hunterdon County. It is considered one of New Jersey's 10 most beautiful places by New Jersey monthly magazine. The bridge, located near Flemington on Rosemont-Sergeantsville Road CR (604) about a mile west of Sergeantsville, crosses the Wickoecheke Creek.Listed among this country's historic places, the 84-foot long bridge was first constructed in 1872. But after being damaged in 1960, it was dismantled in order for it to be replaced with a modern bridge. In 1961, due to public outcry, the bridge was rebuilt from the original materials.
What has often been described by many as the only remaining public access covered bridge in New Jersey, it was closed to traffic on April 14, 2003 for restoration and repair. The bridge was re-opened to the public on July 18, 2003.
As of 2001 only 70 early cast and wrought iron metal truss bridges survived (the number may be smaller now), according to Eric DeLony, former chief of the Historic American Engineering Record. One of them then was the Sargeantville Covered Bridge.
For a long time it had been believed, and written, that there is only one old covered bridge left in New Jersey open to public vehicular traffic — Green Sergeant's — and that is true, if by "old" you mean dating before 1900.
But there is another covered bridge in New Jersey, carrying traffic in the Barclay Farm neighborhood of Cherry Hill. It is the Scarborough Bridge. It was dedicated on February 14, 1959. The bridge was renovated in 1993 and rededicated on its 34th anniversary.
There are other covered bridges — such as a rescued bridge on a road off Limecrest Road in Sparta. But don't expect to be able to drive over it — this old bridge now is a covered foot bridge.
So whether in North Jersey or South, there's a covered bridge to put you in a country state of mind. And, in Sargeantsville there's even a country store nearby. A bit of New England right here in New Jersey. It's all so charming. Just watch out about how you describe the covered bridge. After all, though there may not be many of them, in New Jersey a covered bridge is not just a covered bridge.
A list of covered bridges may be found HERE.
Eric Model explores the "offbeat, off the beaten path overlooked and forgotten" on SIRIUS-XM Radio and at www.journeysinto.com.
ALSO BY ERIC MODEL
Origin of Manhattan Transfer is part of N.J. history
Labor Day is special in Paterson — home to the American Labor Museum
Thanks...