Scarborough Covered Bridge - Cherry Hill, NJ
N 39° 54.040 W 074° 59.555
18S E 500634 N 4416732
Built in 1959 by developer Bob Scarborough and dedicated on Valentines Day of that same year, this bridge employs a lattice Town truss in its construction. The designer of this bridge was Malcolm Wells.
Waymark Code: WM6H02
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 06/03/2009
Views: 7
The Scarborough Covered Bridge is a wooden covered bridge in the Barclay Farms neighborhood of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It carries 2 lanes of Covered Bridge Road (the bridge's namesake), as well as 2 sidewalks for pedestrians and bicyclists. The bridge was named after Bob Scarborough, a housing developer who established the Barclay Farms neighborhood, where the bridge is located. A bridge was needed in the area to extend the subdivision street system over the North Branch, which is a small tributary of the Cooper River. The bridge was designed by Malcolm Wells and was open to traffic on February 14, 1959. The bridge was renovated in 1993. Having a town truss design, the Scarborough Bridge is considered a historical landmark for the community. SOURCE
It was Wells' idea to employ the Town truss as he wanted to copy or emulate the covered bridges he saw in Bucks County, PA. This bridge has an incomplete A-frame and diagonal braces over the pedestrian walkway. The bridge is 55 feet long and located in the middle of one of our oldest neighborhoods in Cherry Hill, Barclay Farms. SOURCE The Bridges of New Jersey by Steven M. Richman, page 93.
The bridge, at the time, spanned across the north branch of the Cooper River. Today, all I see is a small stream which at its widest width is about 20-25 feet. The stream does swell up and overflow its banks a few times a year, but it looks nothing like a river. The bridge itself is in great shape. There is an open green field to the west of it and a marker on the southern side. My son and I often visit the bridge to watch traffic nosily pass through it. Although you cannot walk through it (at least not without getting smacked) you can walk along the sides over the water and next to the structure.
We had believed, and written, that there is only one old covered bridge left in New Jersey -- 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 and gracing the community of Barclay Farm in Cherry Hill. It is the Scarborough Bridge.
In 1959, Bob Scarborough was developing housing on the Barclay Farmstead, and wanted to extend the subdivision street system over the North Fork of Cooper River, a small creek at the site. A lover of the Bucks County Covered Bridges, Scarborough decided to have a covered bridge for the purpose, and commissioned architect Malcolm Wells to design the bridge. It was dedicated on Saturday, February 14th, 1959. (The author of this piece was enrolled in Fair Park High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, at the time, studying drafting under Mom Hearne and realizing that he was not fated to be an architect because he couldn't get the india ink lines uniform). The bridge was renovated in 1993 and rededicated on its 34th anniversary.
The bridge Wells designed for Scarborough is at once traditional and distinctive. The incomplete A-frame and diagonal braces over the walkways make it quite different from other bridges in our area -- as does its two-lane breadth. But its Town Truss construction is very much in the Bucks County tradition.
SOURCE