Take a guided mental journey to the past later this month, after which you can follow by traveling to visit the actual site.
Noted speaker David Simmons, President of the Ohio Historic Bridge Association and Senior Editor of TIMELINE Magazine of the Ohio History Connection (formerly known as the Ohio Historical Society), will be presenting a talk about Delaware County’s last authentic covered bridge, the Chambers Road Covered Bridge on Chambers Road.
Simmons is an advocate, photographer, author, and contributor on covered bridges. He is a listed contributor in the National Park Service study, “Covered Bridges and the Birth of American Engineering.” He is also the 2019 recipient of the General Tools Award by the Society for Industrial Archaeology.
The Delaware County Historical Society is presenting this program on Wednesday, January 15 at 7 PM at The Barn at Stratford, 2690 Stratford Road in Delaware. There is no charge to attend this event.
According to Wikipedia, the span was built in 1883 by Delaware County native Everett S. Sherman, and is a rare surviving example of a Childs Truss bridge. For the technically-minded among our readers, this innovation in bridge building was “a combination truss bridge with wood braces and iron counterbraces that improved on the simple bearing connections of Colonel Long’s design by using bolts to secure the compression members,” according to its patent.
Sherman’s first covered bridge was constructed in 1867 near Sunbury, and is no longer standing.
