details

Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

Home

Humpback, Alleghany County

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

If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. Please contact Trish Kane for more information.

Inventory Number: VA/46-03-01
County: Alleghany County
Township:
Town/Village: Covington
Bridge Name: Humpback
Crosses: Dunlap Creek
Truss type: Multiple King Trussed Arch
Spans: 1
Length: 100' floor, 106'-6" overall, 83-2.5" span
Roadway Width:
Built: 1857
Builder: James River and Kanawha Turnpike Corp.
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N37 48.036
Longitude: W080 02.818
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.9 miles east of jct I-64 (Exit 10 west) and 0.1 miles right on VA600 (Rumsey Rd.) to bridge on left in a roadside park. West of Covington.

Humpback Bridge, Covington, Alleghany County, VA Built 1857 (1948 Photo)
Virginia Department of Transportation Files

Humpback Bridge, Covington, Alleghany County, VA Built 1857 (1954 Photo)
Virginia Department of Transportation Files

Humpback Bridge, Covington, VA, built 1857.
Steve Pierce Photo Taken October 16, 2004.

Comments:
Closed to vehicle traffic. This is the easternmost of three Humpback bridges built over Dunlap Creek west of Covington. All three were part of the Kanawha Turnpike, a roadway 208 miles long designed to connect the market centers of eastern Virginia with the rapidly developing frontier. The center of the bridge is 4’-1” feet higher than the ends. It was bypassed in 1929 and turned over to a nearby farmer who occasionally used it to store hay. When the area was purchased for a park, the bridge was re-sided, painted and rededicated on May 26, 1954. The following text was taken from research by Lola Bennett for the 2012 addendum to the bridge’s original HAER report. According to research done in 1985 by Thomas Dixon Jr., the Humpback Covered Bridge was built in 1857—not 1835, as historians once believed. The 1835 date is engraved on a plaque at the bridge, was cited in the 1970 HAER report and is routinely referenced in current publications. Dixon’s article, "Humpback Bridge, Last Remnant of the James River and Kanawha Turnpike," was published in Covered Bridge Topics in the Spring of 1986. In 1837, a flood destroyed eleven bridges along the turnpike, including the three on Dunlap Creek. Both the abutments and superstructures were rebuilt in a more substantial manner, and the annual report of 1838 stated: "They are finished in a solid and durable style in every respect, and especially in point of masonry, are a great improvement upon the structures which they are destined to replace." Just four years later, however, another massive flood destroyed all the bridges on the turnpike between Covington and Lewisburg. The company's annual report for 1842 stated: The road was substantially and handsomely repaired, and the three bridges over Howard's Creek rebuilt; and thereafter the bridges over Dunlap's Creek were also rebuilt. Of six bridges rebuilt or restored, three were of materials recovered; the superstructures as well as the abutments of the other three being entirely new. While the upper and middle bridges were rebuilt, in 1849 and 1850 respectively, the lower bridge (this site) held for fourteen years, until being swept away by still another flood in the spring of 1856. The 1856 annual report of the James River and Kanawha Company stated: during the year one of the bridges over Dunlap's Creek gave way, but the preparations are making to have it rebuilt; the place in the meantime fortunately admits the substitution of a ford. .. .The bridges on the road from Covington to the mouth of Big Sandy are in good order, with the exception of one over Dunlap's Creek which has been built about 14 years and was swept off last spring. This bridge can be rebuilt at a cost of about $1,500. Thus, the present Humpback Covered Bridge was built in 1857, not 1835, as has been previously reported. It subsequently survived the Civil War as well as major floods in 1877 and 1913, during which time the upper and middle Dunlap Creek bridges were lost.

Sources:
Allen, Richard Sanders. Covered Bridges of the Middle Atlantic States, 1959, page 84
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Thomas W. Dixon Jr., "Humpback Bridge, Last Remnant of the James River and Kanawha Turnpike," Spring 1986.
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 154

The images in this collection may be protected under copyright law and may only be used for educational, teaching, and research purposes.
If the intended use is beyond these purposes, it is the responsibility of the user to obtain the appropriate permissions from the owner stated in the image's credits.