Major Bibliographical References Burkeville Covered Bridge, Conway, Massachusetts Allen, Richard Sanders, Covered Bridges of the Northeast Revised Edition (Brattleboro Vt: Stephen Greene Press, 1983). Beers, Frederick W., Atlas of Franklin County, Massachusetts (New York: F.W. Beers & Co., 1871) condits196ymerican Building Art: The Nineteenth Century (few York: Oxford University conway, mass., Annual Reports of the Selectmen, 1878-date. -. Manuscript Records of the Selectmen of Conway, March 18/0-May 18/1. Courtesy of Alice Eldridge and Eleanor Manwell, Conway Historical Commission --, LManuscript] Records of the Town Clerk of Conway, Book F, pp. 114, 128. Courtesy of Alice Eldridge and Eleanor Manwell, Conway Historical Conmission. Howard, Andrew, Covered Bridges of Massachusetts (Unionville, CT: The. Village Press, 1978.
Previous documentation on file (NPS): Jpreliminary determination of individuallisting (36 CFR 67) has been requested previously listed in the National Register previously determined eligible by the National Register designated a National Historic Landmark recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey# recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # 10. Geographical Data Acreage of property Less than one acre. UTM References A [1 8 Zone 6 88 040 Easting 4 705800 Northing X See continuation sheet Primary location of additional data: State historic preservation office Other State agency Federal agency Local government University Other pecity repository Massachusetts Historical Conmissioi - Zono Eating Norhing!!!
D See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description The nominated property 15 bounded on the north and south by the bounds of the Main Poland Road (a town road), on the east by the intersection with Ashfield Road (State Route 116) and on the west by the intersection with Orchard Street and Main Poland Road. The nominated property is completely within the bounds of the town road property described as Main Poland Road, the Bridge is identified as Bridge Co2inuQionshebe Massachusetts Dept. of Public Works. Boundary Justification The nominated property consists only of the bridge and its abutments. See continuation sheet 11. Form Peter H. Stott, with Eleanor Manwe11 and Betsy Friedberg, Nationa1 Reg.
Director organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date May, 1988 street & number- 80 Boylston Street telephone_(617) 727-8470 city or town - Boston state MA zip code 02116 100 Fom 100000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page OMB Approvel No. 10240018 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts Burkeville was named for Edmund Burke (c. 1802-1865), who organized the Conway BLTAIE Manufacturing Company in 1837 and built the first woolen mill on the South River, about 450 yards north of the covered bridge. A dam across the South River immediately downstream of the Burkeville Bridge impounded water to supply the Conway Manufacturing Company mill, supplied by a race extending produced nearly 85% of Franklin County's woolen cloth.
Burke's mill was quickly followed by a cotton mill, and in the succeeding decades both a tool company and cutlery provided employment for Burkeville residents. The first bridge at the covered bridge site is thought to have been constructed in 1850 when Poland Road was rerouted to cross the river closer to the center of the village. One source (see "Nature's Fury...") indicates that it was a covered bridge, and, unlike the present bridge, was supported by a center pier. After the death of Edmund Burke, the Conway Manufacturing Company was sold to Edward Delabarre in 1867, and the millpond was referred to as "Delabarre's Pond," and the covered bridge as "the bridge at Delabarre's Pond." The torrential rains which hit New England in early October 1869 caused widespread flooding. Many bridges were lifted off their abutments and required replacement.
Adelbert Jakeman, commenting in 1935 on the number of covered bridges remaining in the state, wrote that. "practically half" of the 26 remaining spans were built in 1870 following the flooding (Jakeman 1935: 21). Town clerk Henry Billings described the havoc caused by the South River in Conway: [On the fourth of] October 1869 after a rain of thirty-six hours in which 8. inches of water fell, occurred the greatest flood ever known here. All the bridges from the mouth of South River to Ashfield line, ten 1n number, except one over Delabarre Pond Lsite of the present bridgel and one near C.N. Daniel's [Francis Manwell's] were swept away, and these two made impassable. Tucker & Cook's Reservoir was carried away, all the dams below so much injured as to stop the mills. Clapp's Tannery yard was nearly all washed away, carrying away his barn and bark shed, steam boiler and chimney. J.
Wheelock's two story shop and dwelling was carried away -- E.C. Fotte's two story frame building moved from its foundation. The water at its highest point after breaking away of the reservoir was at least twelve feet above_low water mark in the village. [Town Clerk's Records, Book F., p.144] Although the Burkeville bridge resisted the flood, apparently its center pier and abutments were sufficiently weakened so that the structure required replacement the following year. At the annual town meeting May 21, 1870, Philip M. Phillips, whose house stood on the south bank near the bridge, cont inued MP8 Form 10-000 8-68 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 2 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts petitioned the town to rebuild the structure.
Town Clerk's records that it was "voted-- that the Selectmen be instructed to build a good through bridge at Delabarre's Pond." [Town Clerk's Records, Book F. p. 128]. to borrow $3,000 to rebuild the bridge, as well as the schoolhouse in Burkeville. The new bridge was designed as a single span structure, without a center pier. Construction appears to have begun in August 1870, when the Selectmen's records first report payment for "work on Pond Bridge." All told, nineteen men were paid for work on the Pond Bridge between August and the following May. The total sum paid out for labor on the bridge (and for the schoolhouse also under construction at that time) was $961.83. Nearly 40 percent of this amount ($384.19) was paid to S.P. Sherman for work on the bridge.
This amount suggests that Sherman was the principal builder or contractor on the work and may also have been responsible for the design of the bridge. Syl vanus Persons Sherman (1826-1912) was a native of Worthington. In 1851 he married a Conway woman, Lavinia Trusdel, and moved to Conway soon after. He was a carpenter and builder, and until 1880 his name is frequently on the lists of disbursements of the town highway department. In 1871 he is shown in the County Atlas of that date living on Pleasant (formerly School) Street, not far from the Burkeville Bridge. Sherman moved to Northampton in 1880, where he continued to engage in the building and contracting business for another decade. [Daily Hampshire Gazzette 25 January 1912.] . Marshal Thompson, George Trusdel, and L.F.. Eldridge, all in their thirtles, also contributed significantly to the construction.
Thompson (1839-1924) was paid $104.50, the second highest amount of any of the In the town records his name is usually associated with a derrick, and it is thought that Marshall may have been a stonemason. Lucien F. Eldridge (1839- ), later a town selectman, was paid $100.00 in two payments; and George Truesdale (1839-1918), who was also Sherman's brother-in-law, was paid $75.00. No other major repairs to the bridge are documented in the town records until 1939. After the Hurricane and flood of 1938, the structure was sufficiently weakened to cause heavy traffic to be routed around the bridge. At a meeting with the county commissioners, local residents petitioned for the repair of the bridge. It had been used for years to bring large quantities of milk and produce from farms in the Poland district of the town.
Replacement of the bridge with a concrete span was considered, but rejected after considerable support was expressed for its historic and scenic value. In 1940, under the direction of Leon C. Germain, major repairs were undertaken. These included continued OMB Aaprovel Na. 1024-0018 CM8 Approvel No. 1024-0018 (OPS Fom 100000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 3 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts the replacement of the entire bottom chord on the upstream side of the bridge. The cost of the work, spread over two years, was $2,481. Of this amount, $1,000 was paid by the State, $300 by the county, and the balance by the town.
Approximately twenty years later, additional repairs were necessary to the southwest corner, where three new tie rods were installed, and a section of the bottom chord was replaced. In 1965, a new concrete face was poured on the east pier, matching the west abutment, which had a similar refacing in 1942. Despite extensive repairs to the roof in 1969, however, it had been weakened sufficiently in February 1975 to collapse under a heavy load of snow. Volunteer labor rebuilt the roof the following spring. Despite the repairs to the bridge over time, the integrity of the structure as a whole has not been compromised. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1980; repaired and reopened in 1982; and closed again in 1985. Existing timbers are reportedly insufficient for an eight-ton load limit. Despite posting, trucks have continued to use the bridge while it was open.
The State has closed the bridge until either the bridge is strengthened or heavy vehicles are effectively barred from using the bridge. The bridge is one of five historic-period covered bridges in Massachusetts. The others are the Upper Sheffield Covered Bridge (NR-11/24/1978), a Town lattice truss built in 1837-38; the Arthur A. Smith Covered Bridge (NR-2/3/83) in Colrain, a hybrid Burr arch-truss built in 1870 and later moved and reconfigured; the Dummerston Bridge at Old Sturbridge Village, an 1874 Town lattice truss moved from Dummerston, Vermont in 1952; and the Gilbertville Covered Bridge (NR-5/8/86), an 1886 Town lattice truss built over the Ware River between the towns of Ware and Hardwick. Franklin County (in which both Conway and Colrain are located) has long retained more covered bridges than any other county in the state.
In 1935, of the twenty-six covered bridges which Adelbert Jakeman identified in the state, fifteen were located in Franklin County. (The omission of two Blackstone valley bridges from Jakeman's list casts some doubt on its completeness). Five of the fifteen were lost the following year to the destructive flooding that affected much of New England, and by 1955 only three historic spans remained. (Greenfield's Pumping Station Road Bridge has since burned and was replaced by a replica in Of the twenty-six bridges reported in 1935, Jakeman reported that "practically half" of the spans "were built in 1870 following the great flood in October, 1869" (Jakeman 1935: 21). If this is the case (Jakeman provides few dates his text), the Burkeville and Colrain bridges are the last of this generation to survive.
Today, the two bridges are the second and third oldest of the continued (ees Fom 100000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 4 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts covered bridges in Massachusetts, and of the two, only the Burkeville example retains its original location. The Burkeville Covered Bridge is the only example of the multiple kingpost type of truss in the state. At least since the early 20th century, the sub-variety of this type which uses iron tension rods has been described as a "multiple kingrod" truss. A "kingrod" according to J.A.L. Waddell, is "an (See Waddell in bibliography. Stephen J. Roper, personal communication).
In addition to the greater ease of assembly, iron rods allowed a much more certain connection of the tension members to the top and bottom chords. Wood members, fastened with treenails, were more readily broken when subjected to heavy tensile loads than iron rods held in place with nuts and washers. Threaded iron rod also allowed the truss structure to be tightened or otherwise adjusted. However, because the Burkeville bridge combines timber and wrought-iron tie rods, the bridge has sometimes been mistaken for a Howe truss. In consequence it may be useful to examine briefly the respective roles of the multiple kingpost, kingrod, and Howe trusses in the development of American bridge truss design. The multiple kingpost form of truss is one of the oldest types of truss in use Palladio illlustrated the form as one of four basic bridge trusses in his Treatise on Architecture of 1570.
In it, a repeating series of vertical tension members and diagonal compression members transmit the load from the center of the bridge to the abutments. One of the better known modifications of the form occurred when Theodore Burr (1771-1822) stiffened the truss with the addition of wooden arches, thus making possible greater was built all over the country as long as wooden truss bridges continued to be illustrate that the Burr arch-truss continued to be used even into the 20th century. Although the lattice truss patented by Ithiel Town in 1820 quickly became the most popular type of wooden truss bridge because of the ease with which local builders could erect it, it was the truss patented by Stephen H. Long (1784-1864) in 1830 that was more significant in the history of bridge building. Long's truss was the first in which some measure of mathematical calculations played a part.
tension and the principal diagonals were in compression, the Long truss was a variation on the multiple kingpost truss. Long, however, added counters to more accurately reflect the changing load as a vehicle passed over the bridge, thus giving the truss its characteristic appearance as a series of giant boxed X's" (Allen 1983: 16). The counters were the "essential feature which continued OMAB Aoprovel Na. 10240010 NPS Form 10-000- (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 5 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts distinguished it from a traditional multiple king post truss" (Kemp 1984: 58).
The Long truss, built entirely of wood, had an effective popularity of only ten years, replaced, particularly by the railroads, by the Howe truss, developed by Massachusetts millwright William Howe (1803-1852). Today, the term "Howe truss" is a conventional, sometimes loosely applied term for what was essentially a Long truss with iron rods instead of vertical posts. Howe never patented such a truss, however, perhaps because of its similarity to Long's design (Allen 1983: 17-18). (The two trusses he did patent, in July 1840 and 1846, were seldom used.) Two of his earliest bridges, for the Western Railroad (later in Boston and Albany), employed trusses with iron roads and multiple web systems in each panel. The familiar Howe truss with a single diagonal and counter in each panel does not appear to have been employed until his brother-in-law, Amasa Stoner, and D.L.
Harris founded their own bridge bullding firm in Springfield, Mass 1n 184. form, and the ease with which it could be erected with local materials led to its wide adoption by railroads for the remainder of the century. Although Stone and Harris quickly adopted iron rods to the Long truss, the multiple kingpost was evidently slower to be so modified, perhaps because of patent restrictions. Howe's patent, for the use of iron rods in any truss as a means of adjusting it, was granted August 3, 1840, thus effectively barring all but licensees from its use until 1854. Iron rods do not appear to have been employed in multiple kingpost trusses until the early 1850s. The first example of its use which Carl Condit had identified was one built over the Appomattox River in 1851-53 for the South Side Railroad (later a Norfolk & Western line.) in Farmville, Virginia (Condit 1960: 96).
Al though multiple kingrod through trusses are rare, some railroads, such as the Boston & Maine, continued to built multiple kingrod pony trusses to carry local roads over their tracks. In Massachusetts, the state historic bridge survey conducted by the Department of Public Works, has identified five surviving multiple kingrod pony trusses built by the Boston & Maine between 1892 and. 1911 (Roper 1985). With this perspective, the Burkeville Bridge, as a multiple kingpost design, can be seen as part of a centuries-long tradition of vernacular bridge construction by local builders. Yet, the use of wrought iron for tension nembers was a reflection of a technology that was barely thirty years old (and only sixteen years free of license restrictions) when Sherman and his colleagues constructed the bridge.
Richard Allen, author of the standard work on covered bridges in the northeast, estimates that the Conway bridge is "unique" in the northeast and probably represents the state-of-the-art in wooden bridge building as practiced by knowledgeable local builders of the period (Allen, personal communication). ocnt inued OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 (aps Fom 10000n United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 6 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts Archaeological Significance Although Conway's grazing land may have been used by Deerfield and Shelburne residents for much of the 18th century, the town's earliest non-native settlement did not occur until the end of the French and Indian wars in 1763.
After the Revolution, Conway grew rapidly and by 1790 the town's population of 2,092 was greater than any other town in the Connecticut Valley north of Springfield. Grist and fulling mills were established on the 1ower reaches of the South River for at least four decades, however, before the water power at Burkeville was tapped. Burkeville was named for Edmund Burke (c. 1802-1865), who organized the Conway Manufacturing Company in 1837 and built the first woolen mill in the South River, about 450 yards north of the covered bridge. A dam across the South River immediately downstream of the Burkeville Bridge impounded water to supply the Conway Manufacturing Company mill, supplied by a race extending along the north side of Ashfield Road. By 1845, the Burkeville mill alone produced nearly 85% of Franklin County's woolen cloth.
Burke's mill was quickly followed by a cotton mill, and in the succeeding decades both a tool company and cutlery provided employment for' Burkeville residents. The first bridge at the covered bridge site is thought to have been constructed in 1850 when Poland Road was rerouted to cross the river closer to the center of the village. One source (see "Nature's Fury...") indicates that it was a covered ano the aili pone as erereed ta o eari ares s oed, a the covered bridge as "the bridge at Delabarre's Pond." OMB Approver No. 1021-0018 (PS Fom 100000 Inited States Department of the Interio ational Park Servici National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number. 9 Page 1 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts 9. Major Bibliographic References, (cond't) 1es Tn Covered eridan co Mith aDescription of, the. Stephen Daye Press, 1935).
Kemp, Emory L., "Case Study of the Burr Truss Covered Bridge," Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers 101 (July 1975), pp. 391-412. "West Virginia's Historic Bridges." Report prepared for West Virginia Dept. of Culture and History, West Virginia Dept. of Highways, and the Federal Highway Administration. May 1984. Massachusetts Historical Commission, Reconnaissance Survey Town Report, "Conway," (1982); on file, Massachusetts Historical Commission. "Natuazes e. easpaper cedpingo handloveted Brte , i" 27, cotled Ron of tie Conway Historical Commission. Pease, Charles stanley, ed., History of Conway, Massachusetts, 1767-1917 (Springfield: Springfield Printing & Binding Co., 1917). Roper, Stephen J., Historic Bridge Inventory form for Burkeville Covered Bridge, dated 5/30/1985 (copy at Massachusetts Historical Commission).
"Timber Truss Bridges." 1985 Structural Types Summary Sheet (copy at Massachusetts Historical Commission). wil stec, Rayogy Review (May 19iffe nepranse do in Anerican Soedety doe ," Reprinted in American Society to Civil Engineers, American Wooden Bridges. ASCE Historical Pulication No. 4 (New York: ASCE, 1976), pp. 125-141. Waddell, J. A. L., Bridge Engineering (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1916). continued CME Approved No. 1021-0018 (ps Fomm 109000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMAB Approvel No. 10210018 Section number . 9 Page 2 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts 9. Major Bibliographic References, (cond't) Newspapers Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Mass.) Greenfield Recorder-Gazette Greenfield Gazette & Courier Correspondence and Other Communications Eleanor R. Manwell, Mr.
& Mrs. George Eldriage, Conway Historical Commission Richard S. Allen, Research Consultant, Albany, New York Stephen J. Roper , Historic Bridge Consultant, Mass. Dept. of Pubic Works William Smith, Historic Bridge Coordinator, Massachusetts Historical Commission (Ps Fom 10900n United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 10 Page. 1 Burkeville Covered Bridge Conway, Massachusetts 10. Verbal Boundary Description The nominated property is bounded on the north and south by the bounds of the Main Poland Road (a town road), on the east by the intersection with Ashfield ar pod s ar wan olan meeco oe r ,0 g. identified as Bridge C-20-9 by the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Works. Boundary Justification The nominated property consists only of the bridge and its abutments.
OMe Approved No.
1024-0018 BURKEVILLE COVERED BRIDGE Main Poland Road at South River Conway, MA Detail from: Road Layout for Ashfield Road (State Route 116) Plan Book #8, page 19 (c.1926), Franklin County Engineer's Office, Greenfield, MA [The Town of Conway has not yet prepared Assessor's Maps of the Town.] CONANT AND DONALDSÖN POND BULMHEAD T8:40"W- 298 a' CHUACH 'OLIC E PRINGFIEL UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NAILUNAL PAKK SEKVILE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Burkeville Covered Bridge NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Franklin DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 8/03/88 9/01/88 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: REFERENCE NUMBER: 88001456 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: OTHER : N PDIL: PERIOD: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: LESS THAN 50 YEARS: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: COMMENT WAIVER: N _ACCEPT --..ETURN ___REJECT 9/1/88 ...DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS: 8/16/88 9/17/88 Intered In the atlonel Begister AESTRACT/SÜMMARY COMMENTS (CONTINUED FROM PREVIÕUS SIDE) Decision: Date: Signature: Title: ...
DOCUMENTATION CLASSIFICATION attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N -_count -"esource type STATE/FEDERAL ACENCY CERTIFICATION FUNCTION _historic --.current DESCRIPTION _architecturol clossificotion _moterials _descriptive text SICNIFICANCE criterio .periods of sig. .sig. person criterio considerations -.areas of sig. significant dates -cultural affl. _.architect/builder _sig. statement BIBLIOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ...... .acreage __.UTMS -verbal boundary description -boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION --.sketch Maps _-USGS MOpS --_photographs OTHER COMMENTS --_.presentation ..... Questions concerning the nomination moy be directed to Signed Date Phone ..... BURKEVILLE COVERED BRIDGE MAIN POLAND RUAD AT SOUTH RIVER CONWAY, MASS PHOTOGKAPHER: PETER STOTT P.O.
BOX 356, NEWTON HIGHLANDS, MA O216) DATE: MARCH 14, 1988 NEGATIVE: PHS-1988-3/21 PHOTO 1: EXTERIOR VIEW LOOKING SOUTH-SOUTHWEST BÜRKEVILLE COVERED BRIDGE MAIN POLAND ROAD AT SOUTA KIVER CONWAY, MASS. PHOTOGKAPHER: PETER STOTT P.O. BOX 356, NEWTON HIGHLANAS, MA O2161 DATE: MARCH 14,1988 NEGATIVE #: PHS-1988-3/19 PHOTO 2: INTERIOR VIEW, UPSTREAM SIDE (LOOKING WEST-NORTHWEST) * *COMMISSIOED July 22, 1988 Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013-7127 Dear Ms.
Shull: Enclosed you will find the nomination forms for the following properties: Conway, Burkeville Covered Bridge; Main Poland Road over South River Sandisfield, New Boston Inn; Junction Routes 8 and 57 Shirley, Shirley Center Historic District Wellfleet, John Newcomb House; one-half mile N of Gull Pond Road Wellfleet, Rowell Estate; Gull Pond Road Yarmouth, Thomas Bray Farm; 280 Weir Road They have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30-75 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. No comments have been received to date. sincerely Setay Betsy Friedberg "FEachary (3)) National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission BF/bq AUG - 3 1988 Enclosure Massachusetts Historical Commission, Valerie A.
Talmage, Executive Director, State Historic Preservation Officer 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470 Office of the Secretary of State, Michael J. Connolly, Secretary
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