Covered bridges were designed for purely functional reasons, and the first bridges were made from wood, which rapidly deteriorated from the weather. Covering the exposed wood protected the bridges, extending their usefulness. Today, covered bridges exude a certain romantic quality by evoking simpler times. That makes them irresistible to some filmmakers. The 1995 movie "The Bridges of Madison County" featured a photographer on assignment in Iowa to capture the beauty and mystique of the covered bridge. Although Georgia was not the first state to have a covered bridge -- New York was -- that fact in no way diminishes the rich history of the covered bridges left intact statewide. Georgia has more than a dozen covered bridges, so if you have time to visit only a few, plan to see some that are notable for having a certain distinction.
Oldest Covered Bridge
- Georgia's oldest covered bridge, Big Red Oak Creek Bridge, was built in the 1840s and is still in use today. It is just 12 miles from Warm Springs, Georgia, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt vacationed to take therapeutic baths in the mineral springs for his polio. The bridge, in Meriwether County, is the only covered bridge left standing in the state that was built by Horace King, the most famous covered bridge builder in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. King was a slave who learned to build bridges from his owner. After King was freed, he continued to build bridges and started a construction company with his three sons. The Big Red Oak Creek Bridge spans 252 feet, is supported by a town lattice truss, and is the longest wooden bridge, but not the longest covered bridge, in the state. Some of this bridge is not covered. King is now recognized as being an engineering genius.
Most Visited Covered Bridge
- Washington W. King, Horace King's son, built the covered bridge now called Stone Mountain Bridge. It was originally named Effie's Bridge in honor of a popular area bordello in Clarke County, Georgia, home of the University of Georgia in Athens. The bridge features a beautiful lattice design and is supported by a town lattice truss. It was closed because of flood damage done to it and was moved to a safer place in 1965: DeKalb County's Stone Mountain Park, the most visited attraction in Georgia, which sees millions of visitors every year. Stone Mountain Bridge is currently 151 feet long, shortened from its original 162 feet. It was built in 1891.
Longest Covered Bridge
- Washington W. King also built the Watson Mill Bridge, famous for being the longest covered bridge in Georgia at 229 feet. The strikingly beautiful bridge, built in 1885, is the featured attraction in Watson Mill Bridge State Park in Comer, Georgia, not far from the University of Georgia. The bridge was named after Gabriel Watson, who built a sawmill and a gristmill; the bridge provided water needed to power the mills. A town lattice supports this bridge. Children delight in playing in the shoal beneath the bridge.
Shortest Covered Bridge
- The Stovall Mill Bridge is in White County, near Helen, Georgia, a popular re-creation of an alpine village. It is the shortest covered bridge in Georgia at 36 feet. This bridge is named after Fred Stovall, who bought the gristmill, shingle mill and sawmill on the property in 1917 and ran it for many years. The bridge was built in 1895. The Stovall Mill Bridge, built by Will Pardue, features a queen-post truss and runs across the Chickamauga Creek in northeast Georgia -- not the more famous Chickamauga Creek in northwest Georgia. A nearby bed-and-breakfast inn, the Stovall House, provides convenient lodging for visitors to take in the area and see the bridge that appeared in the 1950s film "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain," starring Susan Hayward and William Lundigan.
