Rating:
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Blenheim Bridge

Schoharie County, New York
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Photos 

Photo taken by Historic American Buildings Survey

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Covered bridge over Schoharie Creek on River Road
Location
Schoharie County, New York
Status
Destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Irene on Aug 28, 2011
History
Built 1855; bypassed 1936; lost 2011
Builder
- Nicholas Powers
Design
Long through truss
Dimensions
Total length: 232.0 ft.
Deck width: 26.2 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.47253, -74.44083   (decimal degrees)
42°28'21" N, 74°26'27" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/545964/4702394 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Gilboa
Inventory numbers
NRHP 66000570 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
WGCB 32-47-01 (World Guide to Covered Bridges number)
BH 38206 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (3,822)
Built 1855 (14)
Built during 1850s (205)
Destroyed by flood (103)
Double-barreled (15)
HAER documented (782)
Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (41)
Long truss (20)
Lost (10,369)
Lost 2011 (254)
 Lost during 2010s (683)
NR-listed (2,354)
National Historic Landmark (12)
New York (1,767)
Nicholas Powers (3)
Schoharie County, New York (29)
Through truss (9,210)
Total length 175-250 feet (2,790)
Truss (23,574)

Update Log 

  • August 28, 2011: Updated by Tony Dillon: Destroyed by flooding from Hurricane Irene
  • April 30, 2011: New photos from Will
  • July 26, 2010: New photos from Brian McKee
  • November 23, 2008: Added by James Baughn

Sources 

  • HABS NY-359 - Blenheim Covered Bridge, Spanning Schoharie River, North Blenheim, Schoharie County, NY
  • HAER NY-331 - Blenheim Bridge, Spanning Schoharie Creek, River Road (now bypassed, North Blenheim, Schoharie County, NY
  • James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
  • Blenheim Covered Bridge - March 27, 2010
  • Brian McKee - bjmckee51 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Will Truax - Bridgewright [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Tony Dillon - spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Blenheim Bridge
Posted September 4, 2011, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Although the information has been rather scarce, the one report I did hear said that they had the roof of the bridge, but the trusses appeared to be obliterated.

Lower Bartonsville in Vermont appeared to be partially intact and possibly some of the timbers can be salvaged and reused.

Blenheim Bridge
Posted September 3, 2011, by Tom Hoffman (tehoffm [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Man this was a real shame to lose such a very rare massive struture. Yes, Hurricane Irene was giving me concerns about New Englands bridges. Have any timbers been recovered or are they too far washed away and snapped? Trees for aren't so big anymore. I hope enough intact timbers can be recovered and there would be large enough wood to replace those timbers lost to rebuild the structure. Thats how the Moscow Covered bridge was rebuilt in Indiana after an F-3 tornado blew it off its foundation. Thats a thought because I dont know the exact fate. Just in case, it would be wise to set the bridge higher but with something like Hurricane Irene floods I don't know. For those in the area with interest in rebuilding, Good Luck.

Blenheim Bridge
Posted August 29, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

I was looking through the HAER photos and I see there used to be a riveted truss bridge next to this covered bridge as well. I presume it was this truss bridge which replaced the covered bridge. Why then, when the replacement for the truss bridge was built, was this historic riveted truss bridge not allowed to stand next to its replacement like the covered bridge?

In the interest of fairness, if they intend to replicate this destroyed covered bridge, the beautiful riveted metal truss bridge which was demolished by NYSDOT should also be replicated.

Blenheim Bridge
Posted August 28, 2011, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Flooding from Hurricane Irene destroyed this wonderful span today.

This is a sad loss of an historic landmark bridge that has been listed on the national register for almost 50 years.

Wonder if there will be any chance of rebuilding it.

Blenheim Bridge
Posted October 15, 2010, by Will (Bridgewright [at] gmail [dot] com)

The bridgewright who built the Blenheim is the same Nichols M Powers that you have next on your list of builders. He was and continues to be misidentified by people who seem to believe they are correcting a typo.

This even goes to census records taken in his lifetime.

His own papers however, suggest otherwise...

As does his his gravestone - http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Powers&GSfn=nichols&GSbyrel=in&GSdy=1897&GSdyrel=in&GSst=49&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=52607084&df=all&

There are also other surviving bridges attributable to him. It'll take some time but I'll get back with a list