July 29 - Newfield Covered Bridge

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” ― Alexander Pope

I love covered bridges, they are so picturesque. A reminder of a simpler time when life was a little slower. There's been a lot of rain in the area, so our usual route to Kyle's home in Pennsylvania had several closed roads, so we had to go a different way. The benefit...seeing something new. Only 7-8 miles from the boat we spotted a covered bridge right here in Tompkins County. The Newfield Covered Bridge is the lone survivor of the three covered bridges that Tompkins County once boasted and is 1 of 24 authentic covered bridges left in the state of New York. It's the oldest covered bridge still open to daily car traffic. 

The bridge was constructed between 1851 and 1853, but the actual date of the bridge's construction is unknown due to a fire in June 1875 which destroyed all of the town's records. 

The original reason that the bridge was covered was because it was more economical to reroof a covered bridge every 20 years than to build a new unroofed bridge. The roof protected the flooring from the elements. The design of the bridge is called the Town Lattice Truss. Many of the covered bridges still standing today are of this type.