Covered Bridges October 4, 2018

Copyright © 2018                               John F. Oyler 

October 4, 2018

Covered Bridges

One of the nicest things about this time of year is the number of festivals scheduled throughout the area each weekend. It has been my habit to take in the Washington and Greene Counties Covered Bridge Festival each year whenever possible.

Usually their website was full of information on activities at each of the numerous locations and detailed instructions on how to get to each one. This year they have switched to FaceBook, a format better suited for social interaction than for communicating such relevant facts. They should check out the Ashtabula, Ohio, covered bridge festival website for an example of a user-friendly medium.

The main thing I learned was that a number of the sites were still recovering from the recent heavy rains and would not participate. Fortunately however the Wyit Sprowls bridge in East Finley Park was listed as one that would be welcoming visitors. It is one of the few I had not visited in the past, so I decided to make it my target destination.

The park appeared to be five or six miles south of Claysville, so I got on I-79 south at the Bridgeville exit, made the turn to the west onto I-70 at Washington, and quickly found myself getting off at the exit for Claysville. No sign of covered bridge festival there, so I decided to drive into the village on historic route 40 and look for a north/south road.

Sure enough, in the middle of Claysville I spotted a “covered bridge” sign and headed south. Almost immediately I was routed off the main highway (East Finley Road) and onto a narrow road which quickly led to Mcguffey Community Park, where it was obvious the covered bridge festival was in full session.

Mcguffey Park has been the location of the Brownlee covered bridge since 2008, when it was moved from its original site on Templeton Fork of Wheeling Creek, a few miles away. 

The bridge is a thirty-two foot span king post truss structure in excellent condition despite its age; it was originally built around 1860. Its metal roof was obviously part of its rehabilitation ten years ago, but most of the rest of it appears to be original. 

Being in Washington County it is, of course, painted “barn red”. Apparently red was a popular color because of the availability of iron oxide as a pigment, in Pennsylvania. The floor of the bridge is supported on three massive transverse timbers connected to the trusses by wrought iron rods.

The festival site had a nice collection of craft vendors. One gentleman did clever things with silverware; his specialty appeared to be money clips fashioned from forks. I had a pleasant conversation with a lady doing tole painting on weathered wood, in much the same fashion as my wife and her sister.

A husband and wife team were demonstrating weaving throw rugs on a loom he had built. Their raw material was strips of cloth from worn-out shirts. It was one of the best weaving demonstrations I have seen – simple enough to be understood. 

My favorite booth was a lady “repurposing” kitchen ware as lawn sculptures, most of which were large, ugly flowers made of dinner plates. When I inspected the tableware that was her raw material I was surprised to find three J. B. Higbee salt cellars, complete with the bumblebee trademark.

I also found two that had holes drilled in the middle of the base, obliterating the trademark. When she asked me what I was looking at, I introduced myself as the voluntary non-elected president of the J. B. Higbee Glass Collectors Association and pointed out the bumblebees to her.

This led to a discussion of the J. B. Higbee Glass Company and a visit to the eBay website listing their products as collectibles. When I offered her ten dollars for the three salt cellars, she thanked me for introducing her to a new subject and declined my offer because she wanted “to do some research”.

Mcguffey Park is also the location of a replica of Rice’s Fort. The original fort was located on Buffalo Creek, about six miles north of Claysville. Built by Abraham Rice it withstood a well-documented siege by about one hundred Indians in September 1782. One of its six defenders was killed by a bullet through a porthole. The other five managed to kill four Indians and hold them off until relief arrived.

The replica blockhouse is quite impressive, constructed of heavy timbers. It was built by the Whiskey Jug Rangers, a local group of re-enactors specializing in the colonial era.  They had an encampment on the site as part of the festival.

In addition, of course, there were a number of food and beverage vendors. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to buy a funnel cake, something I am accustomed to sharing with several other persons. My frugal upbringing forced me to eat all of it myself, generating a major upset to my otherwise disciplined diet.

No one at the Mcguffey Park site seemed to know anything about the Wyit Sprowls location. However, as I left the parking lot I noticed a different covered bridge festival sign, so I followed it. Soon I was back on a paved highway leading deep into Appalachia.

This was the classic twist and turn road that you follow for three or four miles and then encounter a sign announcing, “Winding road ahead”. Actually I am fond of such roads although my minivan is not as well suited for them as the BMW convertible that was following me. 

Eventually we reached the East Finley Township Maintenance facility where a “Wyit Sprowls Covered Bridge Festival” sign was prominently displayed. I pulled in, followed by a parade of covered bridge fanciers, only to learn that this was, after all, just a maintenance facility.

Back to the winding road for another mile or two before we did finally reach East Finley Park, a delightful spot on Templeton Run. I parked close to its pavilion, where an excellent country and western group was performing. Listening to them was a treat, but my real purpose was to see the bridge, which was nowhere in sight.

Being too embarrassed to ask for directions (big city boy deep in Appalachia!), I walked over to a tiny foot bridge over a small stream and did indeed spot my quarry off in the distance. The walk through a very pleasant park was rewarded with the opportunity to inspect another lovely bridge.

The date on the bridge is 1886; actually it was moved to this site in 1998 and underwent significant restoration, including the installation of a steel roof. Its span of forty-three feet necessitated the use of a queenpost truss (a third bay inserted in the middle of a kingpost truss), with diagonals in opposite directions on each truss.

Adjacent to the bridge is a lovely one-room school house, lovingly furnished with old style desks and a large wood stove. I enjoyed the docent’s talk until he wandered off on a tangent and ended up with the erroneous statement that George Washington surveyed properties near Burgettstown. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and am pleased to learn that there are still a few Washington/Greene County covered bridges for me to visit, for the first time, next year.