Old Blenheim Bridge
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nomadwillie
N 42° 28.293 W 074° 26.444
18T E 545973 N 4702285
Old Blenheim Bridge is a wooden covered bridge that spans Schoharie Creek in North Blenheim, New York. At 232 feet (71 m) long, it is the longest single span covered bridge in the world after the Bridgeport Covered Bridge.
Waymark Code: WM7X2J
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 12/16/2009
Views: 5
The bridge is also one of the oldest of its type in the United States.
Nicholas Powers was brought in from Vermont to build the bridge by a group of local business men who formed the Blenheim Bridge Company for the purpose of constructing this bridge. The bridge remained in use until 1932, when a steel truss bridge was constructed near-by to take over the traffic. Since then, this bridge has been maintained as a historic site.
Several websites claim it is the longest such bridge, but also there are claims that the Bridgeport Covered Bridge in California is one that is longer, at 251 feet. The New York Covered Bridge Society New York Covered Bridge Society claims that Blenheim bridge is 2 feet longer than "a bridge in California" (presumably referring to the Bridgeport Covered Bridge), in terms of clear span. Blenheim has 219 feet of clear span, according to this website.
A report of Historic American Engineering Record suggests that the Bridgeport bridge has clear span of 210 feet on one side and 208 feet on the other, while Blenheim was measured to have 210 feet in the middle in HABS drawings from 1936. In August 2003, new measures taken of Blenheim abutments were 209 feet 2 inches on upstream side and 205 feet 6 inches on the downstream side.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
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