Ohio's Covered Bridges

To see more photography about covered bridges and other topics, visit his website

Mark Berger

The Harpersfield Covered Bridge in Ashtabula County was built by Potter in 1868. The Harpersfield is the longest covered bridge in the state of Ohio. It has two spans of 110 feet each and is a total of 230 feet long, including the eight foot overhang.The bridge is supported by a Howe truss, has a brownish-red shingled roof and the siding has been stained with a translucent brown tint. On one side of the bridge there are twelve small windows that are vented and on the other side a pedestrian walkway has been added by the County Engineer's with a canopy covering the walkway. The bridge has one center concrete pier and five steel piers supporting the framework under the bridge. The bridge is in good condition and carries a considerable amount of local traffic.
The Harpersfield covered bridge spans the Grand River, the 1913 flood changed the channel of the river and a 140 foot steel bridge had to be added to the North side of the bridge. The Grand River is a major channel in western Ashtabula County.
The bridge has a dam to the west of it and a new bridge beyond the dam to relieve the traffic burden from the Harpersfield bridge. It is located in a beautiful site and is very conducive for excellent photography.The
Ashtabula County Metropolitan Park Commission provides a 17 acre picnic and recreation area just north of the bridge.

John Smolen the Ashtabula County Engineer has been very helpful in obtaining
information about these wonderful bridges that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. John has been a great comrade in my search for the real stories about these structures.

Directions: Harpersfield Township. From Jefferson, SR 307 west, Left on CR 154 at Harpersfield.

If you would like to see more images and information about covered bridges, go to my web site at http://www.focusfoto.com