Parke County Covered Bridges
Encyclopedia
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
s in Parke County
Parke County, Indiana
Parke County is a county in the western part of the U.S. state of Indiana. It was formed in 1821 out of a portion of Vigo County. The county seat is Rockville....
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, which touts itself as the "Covered Bridge Capital of the World". The county has more covered bridge
Covered bridge
A covered bridge is a bridge with enclosed sides and a roof, often accommodating only a single lane of traffic. Most covered bridges are wooden; some newer ones are concrete or metal with glass sides...
s than any other county in the United States. This is due to several reasons, mainly due to the numerous streams and creeks in the county, and having the natural resources and designers to build the bridges.
Most were built of poplar
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
wood and built Burr Arch style. The main designers of the bridges were J.J. Daniels, J.A. Britton, William Hendricks, and Henry Wolf.
At one time, as many as 53 covered bridges existed (wholly or in part) in Parke County. Today, 31 of those bridges survive, 10 of which have been closed to vehicle traffic.
The Jackson Covered Bridge
Jackson Covered Bridge (Indiana)
The Jackson Covered Bridge also known as the Rockport Covered Bridge is located in the 'forgotten town' of Rockport, northwest of Bloomingdale Parke County, Indiana, USA. It was built by Joseph J. Daniels in 1861...
is the longest single span covered bridge in Indiana. The Portland Mills Covered Bridge
Portland Mills Covered Bridge
The Portland Mills Covered Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Parke County, Indiana and is a single span Burr Arch Truss covered bridge structure that was built by Henry Wolf in 1856. The bridge is 146 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 13 feet high...
is the oldest of the county's covered bridges.
On December 22, 1978, all covered bridges still standing within the county were part of the Parke County Covered Bridges TR Multiple Property Submission, and went on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
Tourism
Tourists may view the historic bridges using five color coded driving routes marked with roadside signs.Every year there is a covered bridge festival
Parke County Covered Bridge Festival
The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival is a fall festival which takes place in nine communities in Parke County, Indiana. It celebrates the county's 31 covered bridges, and is attended by more than 2 million people each year...
in October to celebrate the covered bridges in Indiana. In 2005 it was voted Big Secrets Local Finds by Travelocity
Travelocity
Travelocity is an online travel agency and wholly owned subsidiary of Sabre Holdings Corporation, which was a publicly traded company until taken private by Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group in March 2007...
.