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Sayre or Thetford Center, Orange County

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Inventory Number: VT/45-09-06
County: Orange County
Township: Thetford
Town/Village: Thetford Center
Bridge Name: Sayre or Thetford Center
Crosses: Ompompanoosuc River
Truss type: Similar to Burr
Spans: 1+
Length: 127'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1839
Builder:
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N43 49.925
Longitude: W072 15.166
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 2.2 miles northwest of jct I-91 (Exit 14) on VT113, then 0.2 miles left on Tucker Hill Rd. West edge of Thetford Center.

Sayre or Thetford Center Bridge, Thetford, Orange County, VT Built 1839
Bill Caswell Photo (1984)

Sayre or Thetford Center Bridge, Thetford, Orange County, VT Built 1839
Richard E. Roy Collection

Sayre or Thetford Center Bridge, Thetford, Orange County, VT Built 1839
Bill Caswell Photo, August 8, 2010

Sayre or Thetford Center Bridge, Thetford, Orange County, VT Built 1839
Bill Caswell Photo, May 6, 2019

Sayre or Thetford Center Bridge, Thetford, Orange County, VT Built 1839
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
This bridge has a truss that has been referred to as "similar to a Burr truss" or "Haupt truss with arch". Only one other existing bridge uses this truss – the Bath Village Bridge, NH/29-05-03, in Bath, NH. The former Benton or Bank Street Bridge, NH/29-05-55x, in Lebanon, NH, was also reported to have used a similar truss. A mid-stream pier was added in 1963. The bridge used to be near the Sayre Brothers furniture mill. According to the 1888 Gazetteer of Orange County, the company manufactured “extension tables, did carriage and sleigh repairing, custom planning and jobbing.” The name is often spelled Sayers, but according to the Thetford Historical Society, Sayre is the correct spelling.

Sources:
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Vermont Covered Bridges, 2004, page 76
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 145