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Poole Forge or Wimer or Peter Yohn's Mill, Lancaster County

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

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Inventory Number: PA/38-36-01
County: Lancaster County
Township: Caernarvon
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Poole Forge or Wimer or Peter Yohn's Mill
Crosses: Conestoga River
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 1
Length: 99' overall, 84'-5" span
Roadway Width: 14'
Built: 1859
Builder: Levi Fink \ Elias McMellen
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N40 07.792
Longitude: W075 58.584
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 3.9 miles northeast of US322 in Blue Ball on PA23, then 0.2 miles right on S Pool Forge Rd. (SR1017) and 200 feet left on a bypassed section of S Pool Forge Rd. Between Goodville and Churchtown.

Pool Forge Bridge, Caernarvon, Lancaster County, PA. Built 1859
Bill Caswell Photo

Pool Forge Bridge, Caernarvon, Lancaster County, PA. Built 1859
Thomas G. Kipphorn Collection

Pool Forge Bridge, Caernarvon, Lancaster County, PA. Built 1859
Bob Sheldon Photo, September 11, 2008

Comments:
Private. 8-panel truss. Cost $1219. Also known as Pool Forge or Wimer or Peter Yohn's Mill Bridge. The center Burr truss has "ELIAS McMELLEN A.D. 1859" engraved into the wood. In 1963, the bridge was bypassed and the road relocated to a new concrete bridge over a tributary of the Conestoga River. The old road was LR36053, but the new road is now T701 from Route 23 (SR0023) to the tributary bridge and changes to T679 after the bridge.

Sources:
Evans, Benjamin D. & June R.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges, 2001, page 177
Travis, Dale. Pennsylvania Covered Bridges List, updated to 26 Aug 2004, http://www.dalejtravis.com/cblist/cbpa.htm (23 Sep 2004)
Collins, Kenneth W.. Covered Bridges of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 2002, pages 28-29, 64-65
Moll, Fred J.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges - Our Heritage, 2004, pages 108-109
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, September 2005
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 116

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