PA Cover Bridges (Part IV)

"Love is the bridge that joins all the world together." -Frederick Lenz

Chasing covered bridges isn't as exciting as chasing waterfalls because they aren't as unique as each waterfall. In fact they all look a lot alike, but it's fun to find them and explore the countryside. Pennsylvania is a beautiful state and we do love exploring new places. On our way home from our anniversary getaway we found a few new ones plus a few close to our home in Lewisburg.

Hubler Covered Bridge is only a mile from our home. Getting to the bridge requires driving through the property of the high-security Lewisburg Federal Prison. In fact, half of the bridge sits on their property. Hubler Covered Bridge was built in 1850, roughly 80 years before the prison was built. It crosses Little Buffalo Creek just a few yards above Buffalo Creek. The bridge is 33 feet long.  A chain-link fence keeps visitors from passing through it.  

The Rupert Covered Bridge No. 56 was built in 1847 and is one of 23 covered bridges in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. The bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest existing covered bridge in the county. The bridge is located between the Town of Bloomsburg and Montour Township and is still used to cross Fishing Creek.

The Knoebel Covered Bridge, officially named the "Lawrence L. Knoebel Covered Bridge," is a historic wooden covered bridge located at Knoebel's Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. It was originally constructed in 1881. It spans the South Branch of Roaring Creek, connecting Cleveland Township, Columbia County, with Ralpho Township, Northumberland County.

The first White Rock Forge Covered Bridge was built in 1847, but was swept away in 1858. The existing bridge was built in 1884. The bridge is 103 feet long, 13 feet wide and spans the West Branch of the Octorara Creek in southeast Lancaster County.

The Colemanville Covered Bridge spans Pequea Creek in Lancaster County. It's Lancaster County's second-longest single-span covered bridge still being used. It was originally built in 1856. It is 155 feet long and almost 15 feet wide.

If the weather would have been better we could have done a little hiking around this bridge. It was a pretty area.

The Baumgardener's Covered Bridge is a covered bridge that spans Pequea Creek in Lancaster County. The bridge was built in 1860 and restored in 1987 after it was damaged in a flood the previous year. During this restoration process the bridge was raised by 4 feet and lengthened by 9 feet to protect it from damage in potential future flooding.

The Forry's Mill Covered Bridge is the last covered bridge that spans Chiques Creek in West Hempfield in Lancaster County. It is painted red, the traditional color of Lancaster County covered bridges, on both the inside and outside. Both approaches to the bridge are painted in the traditional white color. It's 103 feet long and almost 13 feet wide.

See other Pennsylvania Covered Bridges that we've discovered at the following sites.

PA Covered Bridges (Part I)

PA Covered Bridges & Cute Towns (Part II)

PA Cover Bridges (Part III)

July 15-19 Graham's Visit

"We share more than a name; we share a lifetime of memories." –Unknown 

Graham was the last of the grands to spend time on the boat. We started with a day at the house before we moved to the boat. It's been a very hot summer so being at the house gave us a little more comfort and options of things to do. Graham was going to mow for us before we went to the lake, but the heat kept that from happening. He did fit it in before we took him home. The grands like making money...who doesn't. 

It's a little harder to entertain an eleven year old than a toddler. Eating is a big part of what Graham likes to do. We hit DQ for lunch on our way to the lake, visited Cold Stone Creamery in Ithaca and had KFC on our way back to Lewisburg. They don't eat a lot of fast food in their family. We don't either, but sometimes it hits the spot. 

We spent one afternoon on the runabout playing in the water and staying cool. Driving the boat and tubing is a fun thing no matter what age you are. Hiking to waterfalls is another thing we like to do, but none of us wanted to put out that much effort in the heat.  

Fun on the water.

Wow what a difference six years make.

This boy goes crazy on the tube.

Graham's craft for his trip was making dueling weapons out of PVC pipe and swimming noodles. I didn't get a picture of them or of us playing with them.

You can see a few of what he made in this photo.

Cold Stone Creamery

He devoured this chicken. We had a bucket of eight pieces and he ate four...he loved it.

He ended his visit with us by doing a little work.

July 11-13 Anniversary Weekend

“Don't make space for stuff, make space for life.” -Courtney Carver

We decided to check out southeastern Pennsylvania for our anniversary this year. We had a gift certificate for the Inn at Whitewing Farm near Kennett Square, so we booked two nights. The inn sits on thirteen acres of a farm that originated in the 1700s. Much of the original farm is now Longwood Gardens. The gardens were developed by the DePont family starting in 1906. Today it's one of the world’s premier horticultural display gardens.

On our way to the inn we did a little shopping in Lancaster and Kennett Square. Kennett Square is only 15 miles from Wilmington, DE and 25 miles to Philadelphia. This area of Pennsylvania is known as the Brandtwine Valley. It is a gorgeous area filled with beautiful homes and farms.

Kenneth Square

Lancaster has a large Amish community and it's fun to see the buggies. Even more fun to see them working the fields with horse drawn farm equipment. 

The inn has 10 romantic guest rooms and suites. We stayed in the Fat's Wallow room in the pond house. It was a wonderful choice. We were able to sit by the pond and enjoy our morning coffee and cocktails in the evening.

It also was nice because it's separated from the rest of the property and was very quick and relaxing.

Our room

Looking across the pond towards the rest of the property.

The owners live in the main house and serve a wonderful breakfast in the hay barn.

We celebrated our 44th anniversary at the Antica Restaurant.

It was the top recommendation from the inn's owner and it didn't disappoint. Stan had the pan roasted salmon with basil pesto farro, caramelized cauliflower, broccoli rabe and lemon gremolata. I had the crab & lobster ravioli sautéed with sweet peas and truffle brandy cream sauce. Both were spectacular. 

Views after dinner.

This used to be a hay barn...hard to believe.

Our breakfasts were so large and so delicious we didn't need to have lunch. Fresh fruit, pastries, coffee and a very generous entrée...I'm not a fan of large breakfasts, but this was fantastic. 

We spent a whole day at Longwood Gardens and still didn't see the whole thing. What an impressive place. Longwood Gardens spans 1,100 acres. It includes various gardens, woodlands, and meadows, as well as the conservatory and fountain displays. Each season brings beautiful changes to the garden. Over 500 volunteers and a staff of 70 keep the gardens in pristine condition.

The Italian Water Garden

Looking over the Topiary Garden

The entrance to the east conservatory.

Part of the east conservatory.

Part of the west conservatory.

The waterlily court

The Main Fountain Garden offers 12-minute fountain performances at various times throughout the day, with additional 30-minute spectacular shows on Friday and Saturday evenings. We were lucky to catch one of the performances while we were in the gardens.

Our second night we had another great meal at Sovana Bistro. It was hard to choose what to have for dinner, but we chose salmon and ravioli again this evening. Both were the special of the evening.

On our way home on Sunday we chased covered bridges. I'll put those in another blog post. We stopped at a fun place along the Pequea Creek called Sickman's Mill. They offer people a chance to float down the river with a pick up serve. It reminded us of places in New Braunfels. We chose to just sit and relax by the creek while enjoying a little Jimmie Juice.

Sickman’s Mill has been used for a number of things since 1752 including distilling, saw milling, and flour milling. Through its many owners and purposes, the mill has changed and evolved.