Beaverkill Bridge
Encyclopedia
Beaverkill Bridge, also known as Conklin Bridge, is a wooden covered bridge
over the Beaver Kill north of the hamlet of Roscoe
in the Town of Rockland
, New York, United States, that carries Conklin Road through Beaverkill State Campground. It was erected in 1865, one of the first bridges over the river in what was then still a largely unsettled region of the Catskill Mountains
.
It uses an unusual modification of the lattice truss design perfected earlier in the 19th century by Ithiel Town
. There is some dispute over which of three men claimed as its builder actually did; it is likely that all of them had some role. It is one of the 29 historic covered bridges in New York State. After undergoing some repairs over the course of the late 20th century, in 2007 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, the northernmost property listed in Sullivan County
and the only one of four covered bridges in it to be listed. Repair and maintenance efforts continue.
line.
It is a 98-foot (30 m) hemlock
lattice truss bridge supported by dry-laid fieldstone
abutment
s faced in concrete at either end. On the east a ten-foot (3 m) approach ramp supported by a steel I-beam
leads up slightly to the portal past a rustic wooden fence along either side of the road that becomes timber guide rails. A plank deck 13 feet (4 m) wide is supported by eight irregularly spaced stringers atop 8 by wood planks. Four of the cross beams extend beyond the bridge where they connect to the upper chord via sway braces. On either side vertical board-and-batten siding begins a foot below the lower chord and rises to a gable
d metal roof, 11½ feet (3.5 m) high, supported by tie-beam rafters with transverse metal rods and diagonal cross-bracing. Interior clearance is only 6½ feet (2 m), enforced by metal height restrictors near the portals.
Two sets of heavy 3 by timber planks serve as the top and bottom chords, with a secondary lower chord at deck level. Twelve-inch (30 cm) diagonals, fastened at each intersection by two-inch (5 cm) treenail
s, radiate out from the middle to either end. They are supplemented by additional diagonals at the ends and four wooden buttress
es along the exterior on either side.
with Willowemoc Creek
via an 1815 road. A tannery
was established near the bridge site in 1832, processing the bark of the abundant Eastern Hemlock
trees in the region into tannin
for the leather industry. The small hamlet of Beaverkill grew up around it, and several other tanneries followed.
That remained the only settlement in the area for some time. In 1859 the Town of Rockland was still described as "a rough, wild region". Seven years after the bridge was built in 1865, it had a population of roughly a hundred, a school and a post office. A bridge probably existed, though no record has been found.
The bridge has long been attributed locally to John Davidson, a Scottish immigrant
whose father had settled the family in Downsville
to the north to raise sheep. After his marriage, Davidson moved to Shin Creek (today Lew Beach
) where he farmed, logged and owned a sawmill
while raising a family of 14. One of the younger children, J.D. Davidson, said in a letter late in his own life, in 1942, that his father had built the bridge, along with two other covered bridges in the town over the Willowemoc, only one of which (Van Tran Flat) is extant.
In the 1970s, descendants of Davidson's younger brother Thomas claimed it was he who had built the bridge. An 1895 Delaware County biographical review further credits James Coulter of Bovina
with the Beaverkill bridge as well as several others. Coulter's biography says, he had moved from bridge building to general carpentry
by 1859, before the bridge's construction date. He was, however, still alive at the time the biographical review was published and could have served as a source for it.
It is likely that all three worked on the bridge. Coulter was also the son of Scottish immigrants to the area and likely acquainted with the Davidsons. On a large public project it is also likely that several local people with the requisite expertise were involved to some degree.
The bridge's design is the lattice truss patented earlier in the century by Ithiel Town
in 1820. Its distinctive feature is the diagonals connected to the lower chord by pins, which eliminated the need for vertical members on longer bridges. It remained popular through the American Civil War
, making the Beaverkill bridge one of the last of its kind.
A major deviation from Town's design are the additional diagonals at the ends, which distribute the load over a smaller area and eliminates the need for long abutment seats of bolster beams. A patent was granted in 1863 for a similar variation on Town's design, so it is quite likely that this technique was not developed by the builder of the Beaverkill bridge. It is, however, unusual for New York. Davidson's three are the only ones known to have been built in the state.
and thus kept "forever wild", and its recreational offerings, particularly dry-fly fishing for trout
in the upper Beaver Kill. Railroads, and later automobiles, made the valley more accessible than it had been to previous generations of anglers, and litter
and other overuse problems began developing along those stretches of the river accessible to the public.
In response, during the 1920s the state began constructing areas where those anglers could camp.
While the hamlet of Beaverkill had dwindled to almost a ghost town
, it was the site of a trout pool popular with anglers, and thus the area on both sides of the bridge was turned into the second public campground in the Catskill Park after North-South Lake
. Its facilities were further refined by Civilian Conservation Corps
workers in the late 1930s; it became the prototype for other state-owned campgrounds in and outside of the Catskills.
The town proposed to replace it with a more modern metal bridge in 1948. It abandoned the plan in response to preservation
efforts led by a local citizen. Instead of demolishing it, the town board spent $700 ($ in contemporary dollars) to restore it, although it is not known what work was done. As part of the preservation, ownership of the bridge was transferred to the county. Over the next several decades, it made repairs and replacements as needed, including facing the abutments in concrete, the only significant change in the bridge's appearance since its construction.
In the late 1990s the bridge was surveyed and inventoried for the Historic American Engineering Record. At that time the county opposed listing it on the National Register since its Department of Public Works felt that could hamper their efforts to assure its safety. The local bridge committee also feared that designating it as a historic structure would increase the costs of running the bridge in a way that couldn't be offset by the grants available. The height restrictors and load limit were imposed at the end of the century.
Along with a century-old iron bridge nearby, the Beaverkill Bridge is the only crossing into the rest of the town and county for the residents on the river's north side. Both are regarded as structurally deficient for modern needs and have reduced load limits that may preclude their use by heavier service and emergency vehicles. In 2000 the state studied what it could do to address that problem. Eight years later the bridge was closed for repairs, requiring a three-mile (5 km) detour via Craigie Claire Road. A $72,000 federal grant the following year, 2009, was meant for further repairs.
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...
over the Beaver Kill north of the hamlet of Roscoe
Roscoe, New York
Roscoe is a hamlet in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 597 at the 2000 census.Roscoe is in the southwest part of the Town of Rockland, adjacent to New York State Route 17....
in the Town of Rockland
Rockland, New York
Rockland is a town in the northern part of Sullivan County, New York, United States. At the 2000 census, the population was 3,913.- History :The town, like most of this part of New York, was part of the Hardenburgh Patent...
, New York, United States, that carries Conklin Road through Beaverkill State Campground. It was erected in 1865, one of the first bridges over the river in what was then still a largely unsettled region of the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
.
It uses an unusual modification of the lattice truss design perfected earlier in the 19th century by Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town was a prominent American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the first half of the 19th century. He was high-strung, sophisticated, generous,...
. There is some dispute over which of three men claimed as its builder actually did; it is likely that all of them had some role. It is one of the 29 historic covered bridges in New York State. After undergoing some repairs over the course of the late 20th century, in 2007 it was listed 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...
, the northernmost property listed in Sullivan County
Sullivan County, New York
Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 77,547. The county seat is Monticello. The name is in honor of Major General John Sullivan, who was a hero in the American Revolutionary War...
and the only one of four covered bridges in it to be listed. Repair and maintenance efforts continue.
Structure
The bridge is located along Campsite Road (County Route 30) in an area with the public campground, one of the oldest in the Catskill Park, on both sides of the river. It goes almost due east-west across a south-flowing stretch of the Beaver Kill's generally east-southeast flow at this point, nearly 1800 feet (548.6 m) above sea level. The entire area is heavily forested and minimally developed. The road curves from the Cragie Clair Road junction to the south and ends at Berry Brook Road just across the bridge, a short distance south of the Delaware CountyDelaware County, New York
Delaware County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of 2010 the population was 47,980. The county seat is Delhi. It is named after the Delaware River, which was named in honor of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, appointed governor of Virginia in 1609.-History:When counties...
line.
It is a 98-foot (30 m) hemlock
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...
lattice truss bridge supported by dry-laid fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...
abutment
Abutment
An abutment is, generally, the point where two structures or objects meet. This word comes from the verb abut, which means adjoin or having common boundary. An abutment is an engineering term that describes a structure located at the ends of a bridge, where the bridge slab adjoins the approaching...
s faced in concrete at either end. On the east a ten-foot (3 m) approach ramp supported by a steel I-beam
I-beam
-beams, also known as H-beams, W-beams , rolled steel joist , or double-T are beams with an - or H-shaped cross-section. The horizontal elements of the "" are flanges, while the vertical element is the web...
leads up slightly to the portal past a rustic wooden fence along either side of the road that becomes timber guide rails. A plank deck 13 feet (4 m) wide is supported by eight irregularly spaced stringers atop 8 by wood planks. Four of the cross beams extend beyond the bridge where they connect to the upper chord via sway braces. On either side vertical board-and-batten siding begins a foot below the lower chord and rises to a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d metal roof, 11½ feet (3.5 m) high, supported by tie-beam rafters with transverse metal rods and diagonal cross-bracing. Interior clearance is only 6½ feet (2 m), enforced by metal height restrictors near the portals.
Two sets of heavy 3 by timber planks serve as the top and bottom chords, with a secondary lower chord at deck level. Twelve-inch (30 cm) diagonals, fastened at each intersection by two-inch (5 cm) treenail
Treenail
A treenail, also trenail or trunnel, is a wooden peg or dowel used to fasten pieces of wood together, especially in timber frame construction and wooden shipbuilding. It is an ancient technology. Covered bridges in the U.S. often use treenails as fasteners. Many such bridges are still in use...
s, radiate out from the middle to either end. They are supplemented by additional diagonals at the ends and four wooden buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es along the exterior on either side.
History
The bridge was an early step in bringing civilization to a remote area that had remained mostly unsettled well into the 19th century. It remained long after the small town that grew around it went into decline. In the mid-20th century a proposal to replace it aroused community opposition, and it has received extensive repairs since then.1865–80s: Core of a tannery town
For much of the early 19th century northern Sullivan County remained largely unsettled, partly due to ongoing land title disputes from the Hardenburgh Patent and partly due to its ruggedness and shortage of arable land. Only loggers, hunters and trappers ventured into the remote valley of the Beaverkill above its confluenceConfluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
with Willowemoc Creek
Willowemoc Creek
Willowemoc Creek is a tributary of Beaver Kill that is a popular trout fishing stream near the Catskill Park in Sullivan County, New York.- Course:...
via an 1815 road. A tannery
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
was established near the bridge site in 1832, processing the bark of the abundant Eastern Hemlock
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...
trees in the region into tannin
Tannin
A tannin is an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.The term tannin refers to the use of...
for the leather industry. The small hamlet of Beaverkill grew up around it, and several other tanneries followed.
That remained the only settlement in the area for some time. In 1859 the Town of Rockland was still described as "a rough, wild region". Seven years after the bridge was built in 1865, it had a population of roughly a hundred, a school and a post office. A bridge probably existed, though no record has been found.
The bridge has long been attributed locally to John Davidson, a Scottish immigrant
Scottish American
Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scots-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and celebrate a common heritage...
whose father had settled the family in Downsville
Downsville, New York
Downsville, New York is a hamlet and former village within the town of Colchester in Delaware County, New York.It is the site of the Downsville Bridge, a covered bridge and the historic Union Free School....
to the north to raise sheep. After his marriage, Davidson moved to Shin Creek (today Lew Beach
Lew Beach, New York
Lew Beach is a hamlet in the Town of Rockland, New York, United States. It is at the northernmost corner of the town and thus also of Sullivan County, near the tripoint with Delaware and Ulster counties, within the Catskill Park...
) where he farmed, logged and owned a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
while raising a family of 14. One of the younger children, J.D. Davidson, said in a letter late in his own life, in 1942, that his father had built the bridge, along with two other covered bridges in the town over the Willowemoc, only one of which (Van Tran Flat) is extant.
In the 1970s, descendants of Davidson's younger brother Thomas claimed it was he who had built the bridge. An 1895 Delaware County biographical review further credits James Coulter of Bovina
Bovina, New York
Bovina is a town in Delaware County, New York, USA. The population was 664 at the 2000 census. The town name is derived from the traditional bovine dairy economy. Bovina is an interior town in the eastern part of the county.- History :...
with the Beaverkill bridge as well as several others. Coulter's biography says, he had moved from bridge building to general carpentry
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
by 1859, before the bridge's construction date. He was, however, still alive at the time the biographical review was published and could have served as a source for it.
It is likely that all three worked on the bridge. Coulter was also the son of Scottish immigrants to the area and likely acquainted with the Davidsons. On a large public project it is also likely that several local people with the requisite expertise were involved to some degree.
The bridge's design is the lattice truss patented earlier in the century by Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town was a prominent American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the first half of the 19th century. He was high-strung, sophisticated, generous,...
in 1820. Its distinctive feature is the diagonals connected to the lower chord by pins, which eliminated the need for vertical members on longer bridges. It remained popular through the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, making the Beaverkill bridge one of the last of its kind.
A major deviation from Town's design are the additional diagonals at the ends, which distribute the load over a smaller area and eliminates the need for long abutment seats of bolster beams. A patent was granted in 1863 for a similar variation on Town's design, so it is quite likely that this technique was not developed by the builder of the Beaverkill bridge. It is, however, unusual for New York. Davidson's three are the only ones known to have been built in the state.
1880s–present: Restored community icon
The bridge is first shown on local maps in 1875. After the 1880s, the combination of depleted hemlock stands and a synthetic process for making tannin led to the demise of that industry along the upper Beaverkill. It was replaced by seasonal visitors who came to appreciate the scenic beauty of the area, now with some landholdings part of the state's recently created Forest PreserveForest Preserve (New York)
New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...
and thus kept "forever wild", and its recreational offerings, particularly dry-fly fishing for trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
in the upper Beaver Kill. Railroads, and later automobiles, made the valley more accessible than it had been to previous generations of anglers, and litter
Litter
Litter consists of waste products such as containers, papers, wrappers or faeces which have been disposed of without consent. Litter can also be used as a verb...
and other overuse problems began developing along those stretches of the river accessible to the public.
In response, during the 1920s the state began constructing areas where those anglers could camp.
While the hamlet of Beaverkill had dwindled to almost a ghost town
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
, it was the site of a trout pool popular with anglers, and thus the area on both sides of the bridge was turned into the second public campground in the Catskill Park after North-South Lake
North-South Lake
North-South Lake is an 1,100-acre state campground in the Catskill Forest Preserve near Palenville, New York operated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation near the site of the historic Catskill Mountain House overlooking the Hudson River...
. Its facilities were further refined by Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
workers in the late 1930s; it became the prototype for other state-owned campgrounds in and outside of the Catskills.
The town proposed to replace it with a more modern metal bridge in 1948. It abandoned the plan in response to preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
efforts led by a local citizen. Instead of demolishing it, the town board spent $700 ($ in contemporary dollars) to restore it, although it is not known what work was done. As part of the preservation, ownership of the bridge was transferred to the county. Over the next several decades, it made repairs and replacements as needed, including facing the abutments in concrete, the only significant change in the bridge's appearance since its construction.
In the late 1990s the bridge was surveyed and inventoried for the Historic American Engineering Record. At that time the county opposed listing it on the National Register since its Department of Public Works felt that could hamper their efforts to assure its safety. The local bridge committee also feared that designating it as a historic structure would increase the costs of running the bridge in a way that couldn't be offset by the grants available. The height restrictors and load limit were imposed at the end of the century.
Along with a century-old iron bridge nearby, the Beaverkill Bridge is the only crossing into the rest of the town and county for the residents on the river's north side. Both are regarded as structurally deficient for modern needs and have reduced load limits that may preclude their use by heavier service and emergency vehicles. In 2000 the state studied what it could do to address that problem. Eight years later the bridge was closed for repairs, requiring a three-mile (5 km) detour via Craigie Claire Road. A $72,000 federal grant the following year, 2009, was meant for further repairs.
See also
- List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New York
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Sullivan County, New York