The Creation

The Old Blenheim Bridge, known as the "Queen of Covered Bridges," was built in 1855 at Blenheim by Nichols Montgomery Powers, a master bridge builder from Vermont, as the world's longest wooden single-span covered bridge. Local businessmen had formed the Blenheim Bridge Company in 1828 because Major Dickerman and other businessmen and farmers struggled to ford Schoharie Creek with heavy wagon loads while transporting hemlock bark to his tannery in North Blenheim. They hired Powers for $6,000 to build the bridge. The structure was first assembled on nearby land, then rebuilt over the creek as a single center arch 232 feet long, with 2 lanes and 3 rib segments rising from the stone abutments to the roof. Skeptics called the ambitious span "Powers' Folly," doubting that so long a bridge could stand, but when the last supports were removed, Powers sat on the ridgepole and declared, "If she goes, I'll go with her." The bridge held firm, settled only a fraction of an inch, and retained its arch for a century and a half.

Blenheim, New York · United States