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Beech Fork or Mt. Zion or Mooresville, Washington County

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Inventory Number: KY/17-115-01x
County: Washington County
Township:
Town/Village: Mooresville
Bridge Name: Beech Fork or Mt. Zion or Mooresville
Crosses: Beech Fork
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 2
Length: 211'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1871
Builder: William P. and Henry J. Barnes
When Lost: 09 Mar 2021
Cause: Arson
Latitude: N37 49.681
Longitude: W085 15.382
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 4.7 miles south of jct Bluegrass Parkway or 2.4 miles north of jct KY55 on northwest side of KY458 (Mount Zion Rd.). South of Chaplin, 2 miles north of Mooresville.

Beech Fork Bridge, Mooresville, Washington County, KY Built 1865, Lost to Arson on March 9, 2021
Bill Caswell Photo, July 1999

Beech Fork Bridge, Mooresville, Washington County, KY Built 1865, Lost to Arson on March 9, 2021
Bill Caswell Photo, February 2009

Beech Fork Bridge, Mooresville, Washington County, KY Built 1865, Lost to Arson on March 9, 2021
Bryan Ketcham Photo, April 4, 1953, Theodorre Burr Covered Bridge Resource Center

Beech Fork Bridge, Mooresville, Washington County, KY Built 1865, Lost to Arson on March 9, 2021
Bill Caswell Photo, March 4, 2016

Beech Fork Bridge, Mooresville, Washington County, KY Built 1865, Lost to Arson on March 9, 2021
Bill Caswell Photo, April 23, 2018

Comments:
The Beech Fork Bridge was built in 1871 for the Springfield and Chaplin Turnpike. The Laughlin & Jurgensen book Kentucky’s Covered Bridges states that the builder was Cornelius Barnes. It was built by two brothers, William P. and Henry J. Barnes, well-known carpenters from Mt. Washington, KY. The trusses are made of poplar wood. This bridge was bypassed and closed to traffic in 1975 or 1976. In 1982 a crumbling limestone center pier was repaired by a local stone mason with large sandstone blocks. The bridge underwent an extensive restoration by Arnold Graton Associates in 2016 & 2017. It was Kentucky’s longest historic covered bridge when it burned in a suspicious fire on March 9, 2021. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 26, 1976. 12-panel truss. Vertical siding.

Sources:
Research by Dale Salmons of the Mt. Washington Historical Society
White, Vernon. Covered Bridges, Focus on Kentucky, 1985, pages 108-113
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume VI, No. 1, March 1948, page 10
Database of Kentucky covered bridges compiled by Robert W. M. Laughlin
Laughlin, Robert W. M. and Melissa C. Jurgensen. Covered Bridges of Kentucky, 2007, page 41
Wood, Miriam F. & Simmons, David A.. Covered Bridges: Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, 2007, pages 246-247, 250
White, Warren H.. Covered Bridges in the Southeastern United States, 2003, Pages 88-89
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2009, page 36