Academia Covered Bridge 38-34-01

Juniata County, Pennsylvania

Photos

Side view

Photo taken June 2006 by Jack Schmidt

BH Photo #108599

Map

Description

Interesting to note there are multiple documented dates for the bridge's build date: -1870 "Statewide Covered Bridge Assessment" -1901 "World Guide to Covered Bridges" -1902 "The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania" by Zacher

Currently bridge is owned by the Juniata County of Historical Society

Facts

Overview: Covered bridge over Tuscarora Creek southeast of Academia
Location: Juniata County, Pennsylvania
Status: Open to pedestrians only
History: Built 1902 by James M. Groniger
Design: Covered Burr arch-truss
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 135.0 ft.
Total length: 279.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.5 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 11.6 ft.
Recognition: Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 1979
Also called: Pomeroy Covered Bridge (original name)
Approximate latitude, longitude: +40.49350, -77.47267 (decimal degrees)
40°29'37" N, 77°28'22" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 18/290450/4485470 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:: Spruce Hill
Inventory numbers: WGCB 38-34-01 (World Guide to Covered Bridges number)
NRHP 79002249 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 31046 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

March 4, 2014: Photos imported by Dave King
August 21, 2012: New photos from Jodi Christman
July 28, 2012: Updated by Jodi Christman: Added description on dates and owner
December 18, 2006: Posted photos from Jack Schmidt

Sources

Jack Schmidt - jjturtle [at] earthlink [dot] net
Dale Travis Covered Bridge List
Jodi Christman - masterofchaos [at] outlook [dot] com

Comments

Academia Covered Bridge

Posted June 28, 2013, by Ron Martin (martinsrm [at] reagan [dot] com)

Although I cannot be certain, having not done any in-depth research on this particular bridge, it very likely may have originally been built in 1870. The structure matches the techniques of that time. In both 1898 and 1902 there were major floods in the Susquehanna watershed (and again in 1904, 1936, 1972, 1975, and 2011). It was common for these bridges to sustain enough damage to require a major repair/rebuild. There are other structures dating from those flood years in the watershed that fall into that category. Clifton Bridge (my "home bridge" here in Dauphin County) had a similar storied life. Built in 1822, it was heavily damaged by flood waters in 1862 (when the Union Canal dam burst at Water Works) and again in 1874. Some records mistakenly list it's build date as one of those two years - but those were actually a repair/rebuild of the original structure as opposed to a complete replacement. (Sadly, we lost it completely thanks to Agnes in 1972)