The West Cornwall Covered Bridge (also known as Hart Bridge) is a wooden lattice truss bridge built over the Housatonic River

Housatonic River

The Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...

 in the town of Cornwall, Connecticut

Cornwall, Connecticut

Cornwall is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,434 at the 2000 census.In 1939 poet Mark Van Doren wrote "The Hills of Little Cornwall", a short poem in which the beauties of the countryside were portrayed as seductive:The town was also home to the Foreign...

. It is estimated to have been built around 1864.

Details

The 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...

 is 172 feet (52.4 m) long, 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and supports one lane of vehicle traffic for the Sharon-Goshen Turnpike (Connecticut Route 128

Connecticut Route 128

Route 128 is a minor state highway in northwestern Connecticut, running from U.S. Route 7 in Sharon to Route 4 in Cornwall.-Route description:Route 128 begins at an intersection with US 7 on the west bank of the Housatonic River within the town of Sharon...

). The bridge is built of red spruce

Red Spruce

Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...

 timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

s secured with 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 (wooden pegs). In 1973 the roadway was reinforced with the addition of a concealed steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 deck.
The bridge 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...

 in 1975.
Extensive repair was done to the floor of the bridge during the mid 1940's when a tanker truck carrying tar plunged through the flooring.

The bridge appeared in the opening scenes of the movie, Valley of the Dolls

Valley of the Dolls (film)

The soundtrack was released in 1967. Dionne Warwick sang the title track; however, her version is not on the soundtrack. Warwick was signed to Scepter Records at the time and could not contractually appear...

 a 1967 American drama film based on the 1966 novel of the same name

Valley of the Dolls

Valley of the Dolls is a novel by American writer Jacqueline Susann, published in 1966. The "dolls" within the title is a slang term for downers, barbiturates used as sleep aids....

 by Jacqueline Susann

Jacqueline Susann

Jacqueline Susann was an American author known for her best-selling novels. Her most notable work was Valley of the Dolls, a book that broke sales records and spawned an Oscar-nominated 1967 film and a short-lived TV series.-Early years:Jacqueline Susann was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to...

.