The Press Enterprise for Saturday, July 1, 2006, reported that a third covered bridge was affected by the raging waters of Huntington Creek in the early hours of Wednesday's No-Name storm, the storm of June 28, 2006. This covered bridge had been privately owned since 1921 and is located in Luzerne County. The bridge was owned by Emily "Freddie" Bittenbender, and is located at 176 Waterton Road, south of Huntington Mills off LR 40076, Huntington Township. The Press Enterprise article says it swept downstream about 2 AM Wednesday.
The bridge, built in 1888, is designated as PA/38-40-01, and is known as Bittenbender's Bridge. It was a 75-foot long single span Queenpost Truss located at 41.180N / -76.224W // 41° 10' 49"N / -76° 13' 28"W. The last Luzerne county-owned bridge was destroyed in 1955.
Bittenbender's Bridge
Family records conflict with the date of construction, placing it at 1879 when adjacent farmers Stephen Dodson and Frank Monroe built the private bridge with a farm lane extended to neighbors in order to shorten the journey to Shickshinny via the Union Turnpike.
The bridge has an interesting history, including a plan by the Ku Klux Klan to burn the bridge. A band of the group that advocated white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, and anti-Catholicism soaked a straw bale and ignited it, charring the siding and timbers. Leon Robbins undertook a major restoration of the bridge in 1937. Oak plank flooring was laid from a demolished covered bridge at Huntington Mills. The bridge was certified as a National Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Properties. Additional restoration took place in 1986 when timbers were replaced in both trusses.
Thomas Kipphorn is compiling a list of the covered bridges of Luzerne County. The list is preliminary. The longitude and latitude of each bridge are at the old site, which may not be where the current bridge is located. Here is the Luzerne County list so far. Luzerne County is a large county and there may be more bridges. Can any readers help with additional information about the bridges or with photos?
• The first bridge is the Bittenbender Bridge over Huntington Creek, which we described above.
• A covered bridge over Nescopeck Creek.
• PA/38-40-03, Red Rock Bridge. It was a single span of unknown truss design 74' long, with a 13' roadway. It was built about.1870 and was located in Black Creek Township on Cedar Head Road, just east of its intersection with Tank Road (SR3016 - LR40015 to the north of T340 and T308 to the south). The road was formerly LR40012, but was redesignated as T340. The bridge alone was SR3038, located 40.998N / -76.165W // 40° 59' 54"N / -76° 9' 53"W
• There were five covered bridges on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River; i.e.,
• PA/38-40-06 Pittston Ferry / Fort Jenkins Bridge,
41.327N / -75.792W // 41° 19' 36"N / -75° 47' 29"W
• PA/38-40-04 Depot Bridge
41.324N / -75.793W // 41° 19' 27"N / -75° 47' 35"W
• PA/38-40-05 Market Street / Wilkes-Barre Bridge
41.250N / -75.885W // 41° 14' 58"N / -75° 53' 7"W
• PA/38-40-07 Shickshinny Bridge
41.148N / -76.146W // 41° 8' 53"N / -76° 8' 47"W
• PA/38-40-02 and 38-19-85 Berwick / Nescopeck Bridge-
41.054N / -76.228W // 41° 3' 14"N / -76° 13' 41"W
