How many of you have ever visited and driven through an old covered bridge? In Pennsylvania we have a lot of those old historic bridges and many of them are still in use today.
Several months ago we spent a weekend in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania and nearby we stumbled upon the historic Banks Covered Bridge. It was built in 1889 and spans the Neshannock Creek. It’s a single lane Burr Arch Truss built on a stone foundation and allows travelers to cross the Neshannock Creek. The weight limit is 12 tons with a clearance of 8 feet and 9 inches.
What’s really cool about this old covered bridge is that its located in the heart of Amish country! There is a large old order Amish community that is situated in Lawrence County and the surrounding area. You’ll see both passenger cars, small trucks and Amish buggies using this bridge. Isn’t it cool? We love visiting these old covered bridges!
After we went through the bridge we caught up to one of the Amish driven horse and buggy which is shown in my photo above. Just remember…when you see the Amish you don’t want to take photos of their faces or of them. It’s better to take your photos from a distance and with no identifying information contained with them. I shot this photo through a window and I blurred out their license plate.
How many of you enjoy visiting Amish communities? Have you ever visited one and if so, which one? Have you every visited and driven through and old covered bridge?
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I love covered bridges and have visited several of them. I would love to go to Wilmington, Pa. to see this one.
Yep we have covered bridges here! In fact Iowa is where Bridges of Madison County is about! That bridge is a beautiful one, and it is bridges like these where people would ‘steal’ kisses 🙂 We have lost many of these bridges unfortunately… one due to arson last year and boy they threw the book at the teens that did it.
We have been to plenty of Amish communities, we see them a whole lot. It depends on the sect how strict hey are. Ours speak low German here, bu not as much as they used to.
I have never been to an Amish community but I would love to visit one someday. I so love covered bridges there is just something about them I guess they just remind me of a simpler time. We have a few in our area that are still standing.
Quite a find during your adventures. It would be interesting to be in Amish country – something I have never experienced. How impressive that the bridge is still open and sturdy enough for cars.
I like the old style covered bridges…but of course they go and mess them up with the signs, like clearance, speeds, etc., lol. Still this one is pretty.
We really liked this one because it’s white! The majority of the ones in Pennsylvania are done in the traditional barn red color. Nice seeing one painted white.
Thank you for this great article. There is something so wholesome about a covered bridge. Every time I see one, i think of the book, Bridges of Madison County.