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Pine Grove, Chester County

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Inventory Number: PA/38-15-22#3 / PA-36-41#3
County: Chester County / Lancaster County
Township: Lower Oxford - Little Britain
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Pine Grove
Crosses: Octoraro Creek
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 2
Length: 200' floor, 187'-4" span
Roadway Width: 13' 6"
Built: 1884
Builder: Elias McMellen
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N39 47.617
Longitude: W076 02.687
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 1.4 miles northwest of jct US1 on PA472, then 1.6 miles left on Street Rd. (CR3028) and 0.3 miles right on Forge Rd.

Pine Grove Forge or Little Britain Bridge, Lower Oxford-Little Britain, Chester County, PA. Built 1884
Todd Clark Collection

Pine Grove Forge or Little Britain Bridge, Lower Oxford-Little Britain, Chester County, PA. Built 1884
Clint Frackman Collection

Pine Grove Forge or Little Britain or Chester County #7 Bridge, Lower Oxford-Little Britain, PA Built 1884
Thomas G. Kipphorn Collection

Pine Grove Forge or Little Britain Bridge, Lower Oxford-Little Britain, Chester County, PA. Built 1884
Bill Caswell Photo, July 28, 2013

Comments:
10-panel truss. Chester County #7. Cost $4295. Rebuilt in 1988. Rehabilitated 2008. Currently, this is the longest covered bridge in Pennsylvania that is still opened to traffic. The 1816 bridge was washed away in 1846. Not much else is known about it. The 1846 bridge was a single span Burr Arch type, with a length of 175' and a roadway of 15'. In 1881, this bridge was in need of substantial repairs. A local newspaper stated that Ferdinand and Menander Wood were awarded a contract after their $1,444 bid of July, 1881 and the bridge was "thoroughly overhauled and repaired" so much that the cost and labor were "almost equivalent to building a new one." It was washed away on June 26, 1884.

Sources:
Evans, Benjamin D. & June R.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges, 2001, page 91
James, Arthur E.. Covered Bridges of Chester County, PA, 1976, pages 16-17
Collins, Kenneth W.. Covered Bridges of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 2002, pages 18-19, 68-69
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, September 2005
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 106