Take a Tour of the Covered Bridges of the Willamette Valley

Picture courtesy of Oregon Department of Transportation

By Amalie Young
Reprinted courtesy of TravelOregon.com

Download and print detailed location and driving direction: http://www.traveloregon.com/getaways/pdf/locations.pdf

Set against a backdrop of golden fall color, Oregon's covered bridges are reminders of the architecture of times past. They are also an engineering marvel with a practical purpose: Roofs over the wooden decks and trusses kept them from rotting too quickly.

Must See Bridges

Larwood Bridge Sits on the confluence of the Roaring River and Crabtree Creek. From Richardson Gap Road head east on Larwood Drive about four miles

Lowell Bridge The span may be the only covered bridge over a reservoir. Located north of Highway 58 near the town of Lowell.

Pengra Bridge Cross Dexter Reservoir and drive north. Turn left on Place Road and head west for about three miles. The bridge is off a short lane to the right.

Office Bridge Unharmed by a fire that destroyed the sawmill. Mill offices have been converted into an inn, which still holds the company's original vault.

Swinging Bridge A few feet from the Chambers Railroad Bridge. When you cross, you can make it swing from side to side.

Chambers Railroad Bridge A half-mile from Main Street on South River Road.

Wildcat Creek Bridge Take Oregon 126 west from Eugene and turn off at Whitaker Creek/Clay Creek Recreation. The bridge is about half a mile away, after a left turn.

Chitwood Bridge Located west of Eddyville just off Oregon 20. The bridge sports a cedar shake roof, flared sides painted barn red and a wooden deck.

Irish Bend Bridge Park at the Benton County Fairgrounds and follow the Campus West footpath east to the bridge.

Oregon has the largest collection of covered bridges west of the Mississippi. The state's first covered wooden bridge was built in 1851 in Oregon City. During their heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, there were more than 400.

The 50 or so that have survived bugs and bad weather are scattered mostly around the Willamette Valley. A good place to begin a tour of the bridges is the tiny town of Scio, near Albany, where five must-see spans are nestled among the trees.

The open-sided Larwood Bridge is the most picturesque. On the riverbank, a grassy park thick with trees is a delightful picnic spot. An old waterwheel that once brought electricity to nearby homes still churns in the Roaring River.

In nearby Corvallis, a self-guided tour of the town's many historic buildings - including the Benton County Courthouse - offers another glimpse of early Oregon architecture.

Four distinctive covered spans circle the town of Lowell, east of Eugene off Highway 58.

Lowell Bridge is Lane County's widest, at 24 feet. Like many of Oregon's covered spans, the bridge employs a Howe truss, where the support beams are latticed, placed at angles in a series of "Xs" between the bridge's upper and lower chords. Iron rods, with nuts and turnbuckles, hold the formation tight. Nearby Pengra Bridge is held up with the two longest bridge timbers ever cut in Oregon.

East on Oregon Highway 58, near Oakridge, is Oregon's longest covered bridge, the 180-foot Office Bridge. Set among dense Douglas fir, the barn-red bridge was built in 1944 to connect a sawmill on one side of the river to the mill offices and company town on the other. The bridge has a rare covered walkway attached to the road deck.

From Lowell, drive south to Cottage Grove, known as the "covered bridge capital of the West'' for its six spans within a few minutes of town. Among them is the 78-foot Chambers Railroad Bridge, Oregon's only remaining covered railroad bridge. Built in 1925, the span once carried rail cars loaded with logs across the Coast Fork of the Willamette River. It has sat abandoned since 1943, when the J.H. Chambers Mill burned.

Tucked into the back roads west of Cottage Grove, wineries grace the rolling hills crisscrossed with vineyards. Stop for a sip of local pinot gris or tour during the fall grape crush.

Along Oregon 126, on the way to the coastal town of Florence, sits the covered Wildcat Creek Bridge, a great spot for picnicking and fishing.

From Florence, follow the scenic coastal highway north to Newport. Return to Corvallis on Oregon 20, stopping at two bridges along the way: Chitwood and Irish Bend. Both were re-stored in the 1980s. The latter has been reassembled on the Oregon State University campus - a sign that covered bridges remain a vital part of Oregon's architectural legacy.