Wertz's Red Bridge is one of only five covered bridges remaining from the thirty-seven that once stood throughout Berks County. Built in 1867 by Amandas Knerr for $7,450, it is the longest remaining single-span covered bridge in Pennsylvania, measuring 220 feet from portal to portal and constructed with a Burr Arch Truss of uprights and diagonals between a pair of arches running from abutment to abutment. During the operation of the Union Canal from 1827 to 1884, a small wooden farm bridge was built to cross the canal. In March 1959, an automobile crashed into the Spring Township entrance, cracking support beams and knocking the bridge off center, after which it was repaired and support beams were fastened to its underside; it was then closed to automobiles on October 23, 1959. In 1978 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Structures, and in 1984-1985 it was restored by stripping it down to its wooden skeleton of beams and trusses, removing the tin roof and rotted timbers, and adding new cedar siding, steel rods with turnbuckles under the flooring, a new cedar shake shingle roof, and fresh paint. The bridge continues to be maintained by the County of Berks, and the suspended cable car beside it was installed by the United States Geological Survey to cross the creek for testing the temperature, depth, and speed of Tulpehocken Creek before Blue Marsh Lake and the dam were built upstream.
