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Wiswell
Covered Bridge Revisited 35-04-22
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Spanning
Phelps Creek, Windsor Township, is the Wiswell
Road Covered Bridge, formally called the Warner Hollow
Covered Bridge. The sight of the bridge is very sriking, it
hovers over Phelps Creek by 50 feet. Phelps Creek is a tributary
of the Grand River. The bridge is 121 feet long. The interior
has a Town Lattice Truss, the exterior of the bridge has a
shingled roof, weathered siding. |
| Presently in the current design there
is a small window on either side of the bridge, in the new design
of bridge there will be several smaller windows in the center
and two elongated windows on either side so that a pedestestrian
may lookout across the spans of the bridge. Timothy Martin,
AshtaBula County Engineer has furnished me with an architectural
of the rendering of the new bridge design as seen to the right. |
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Built in 1867, it is unique in the fact that it is
the only Ashtabula County covered bridge designated as a national
historic site, the bridge was bypassed in 1972 & now has
under gone major renovation to allow vehicular traffic once
again. |
Three types of abutments and supports have been
used under the bridge, the original being carefully laid
field stones. When the nearby Windsor stone quarries were
flourishing, huge stones were added to strengthen the abutments.
In more recent years, concrete was added.
Phase One of the new renovation was to build a
new concrete pier next to the existing south field stone
pier and to cap the existing abutments with concrete. All
the concrete work will be veneered with field stone to give
the Wiswell it’s original aesthetic appearance. Phase
one costs are $100,000.00.
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Phase Two of the new renovation is raising the bridge
approximatly 4 feet off the original surface, replacing some
of the rotted timbers, replacing the siding with the addition
of the new window design and a new shingle roof. Phase two costs
are $150,000.00. All moneys for these renovation were raised
by the county. Construction was done by the Ashtabula Construction
Company of Jefferson, Ohio.
The bridge stands in the center of Ashtabula County history,
with Camp Whitewood being on a site of the old Indian fortifications
to the south, and the historic Windsor Quarries, Skinners Mill
and Christ Episcopal Museum to the North. The Windsor
Historical Society watches over these sites |
A
park surrounds the bridge at the bridge site, access to the
the creek bed is available down a long hill. the area surrounding
the bridge is thickly wooded. I’d like to thank Timothy
Martin, Ashtabula County Engineer for his help with information
regrding this bridge. The completion date for vehicular traffic
to once again travel across these timbers will be in July
of 2004. Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival in Jeffereson,
Ohio. It is the 2nd full weekend in October. This years festival
is Saturday & Sunday, October 11th & 12th, 2003. The
festival will feature a parade, entertainment, food, crafts,
childrens activities, historical displays, a quilt show, farmers
market, antique engines & cars, a church service, pancake
breakfast, contests, six horse hitch/driving demonstrations,
a draft horse pull, souvenirs and a self guided covered bridge
tour maps are also available. Admission for adults is $4.00
and children under 12 are free. for more information about
the Covered Bridge Festival, call: 440-576-3769
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Directions: Windsor
Township. From Windsor Mills go SE on State Route 322 and
south at Wiswell Road.
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