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Gauley River, Fayette County

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Inventory Number: WV/48-10-01#2x
County: Fayette County
Township:
Town/Village: Gauley Bridge
Bridge Name: Gauley River
Crosses: Gauley River
Truss type:
Spans:
Length: 480'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1828
Builder:
When Lost: 1848
Cause: Burned
Latitude: N38 09.83
Longitude: W081 11.70
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Comments:
Per The Daily Review (Clifton Forge, Virginia), February 21, 1925, "A NEW BRIDGE OVER GAULEY - Gauley bridge was first built in 1821, when a covered bridge was built at a cost of $18,000. For five years this covered bridge was used by early West Virginia settlers as they traversed the State. On July 11, 1826, the bridge was burned and it was common report that persons who wished to operate a ferry at the junction of the rivers were responsible for the destruction. Two years after the bridge was first burned it was again rebuilt, the covered style of bridge being used. This was in 1828. This bridge remained standing for a period of twenty years but fire again destroyed it in 1848. Two years later it was rebuilt. It was the bridge built in 1850 that the Union forces planned to use in efforts to invade Charleston during the civil war. Captain [Joel] Abbot was then stationed at Fayetteville. To him fell the assignment of stopping the Union forces from carrying out their intentions. With a picked body of men Captain Abbot went to the site of the bridge, reaching the point after a hurried march and beating the Northern troops to the spot where it was hoped passageway could be found into what is now the capital city of West Virginia. The Confederate forces dynamited the bridge and then set it afire. The Union forces failed at their attempt to enter Charleston and Captain Abbot and his men retired to their station at Fayetteville." The last covered bridge included four windows and was painted white.

Source:

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