December 2007

Brown County OH - North Pole Covered Bridge
7993-7999 County Highway 13B
Ripley, OH 45167

We didn't take the most direct route to this bridge.  We tried being cute by heading back out on US68 south but we turned left on St Rt 353 and headed east and turned right, heading south, on St Rt 763.  These were fun roads to ride albeit a little narrow.  But we traveled up over the hills as they descended down to the Ohio River.  We found ourselves on US52 where we turned left and headed east.  We caught back up to US68 in Ripley where we turned right and went north on US 68.  In a just a few miles we turned right on CR13b.  After about five miles we came upon the bridge.  This bridge is a 169-foot Smith truss built in 1875.  This patented truss replaced an earlier iron bridge.  It was a twin to the Eagle Creek Covered Bridge upstream on State Route 763, also built in 1875 by the same company. A devastating flood in March, 1997, heavily damaged the North Pole Bridge and destroyed its upstream twin.  North Pole Covered Bridge is another example of a long single-span bridge.  Old stone walls border the road leading east from the bridge.



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