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McIndoe Falls or Lyman Toll, Caledonia 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: VT/45-03-49x / NH-05-93x
County: Caledonia County / Grafton County
Township: Barnet - Monroe
Town/Village: McIndoe Falls
Bridge Name: McIndoe Falls or Lyman Toll
Crosses: Connecticut River
Truss type: Long
Spans: 2
Length: 250'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1834
Builder: Passumpsic Turnpike Company / Peter Paddleford
When Lost: Sep 1930
Cause: Replaced
Latitude: N44 15.70
Longitude: W072 03.53
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: McIndoe Falls Road at Monroe, NH.

McIndoe Falls or Lyman Toll Bridge, Monroe, NH-McIndoe, VT (Built 1834 - Lost 1930)
Bill Caswell Collection

McIndoe Falls or Lyman Toll Bridge, Monroe, NH-McIndoe, VT (Built 1834 - Lost 1930)
Richard Donovan / Trish Kane Collection

McIndoe Falls or Lyman Toll Bridge, Monroe, NH-McIndoe, VT (Built 1834 - Lost 1930)
Richard E. Roy Collection

Comments:
This bridge was known as the Lyman Bridge because Monroe was still part of Lyman when the first bridge was built in 1803 above McIndoes Falls. That structure was lost during an ice and log jam in the Spring of 1812. The second bridge was built in 1813 or 1814 and was believed to have been lost in the great flood of 1826. Construction started on the third Lyman Bridge in December 1833. It was 300' long and built at a cost of $2,000. Peter Paddleford was the builder and Luther Butler, the mason. Although some sources indicate that this was a Paddleford truss, Peter Paddleford initially built bridges with Long trusses. The first Paddleford truss is thought to be the Smith-Eastman Bridge in Conway, NH, in 1846. The first toll was taken on June 17, 1834. The bridge was made free in 1924 and ownership was transferred to the town of Monroe in 1925. Wooden arches were added in 1896 to strengthen the bridge. The center pier was strengthened in 1927. It was still in fine condition when it was dismantled in September 1930 and sold to Julius Long for a barn to make way for a new dam across the river. The steel truss bridge that replaced it was still standing in 2017.

Sources:
The Caledonian-Record, Friday, March 21, 1930, Page 7
Nelson, Joseph C.. Spanning Time - Vermont's Covered Bridges, 1997, page 252
Connecticut River Valley Covered Bridge Society. Bulletin, Volume X, No. 2, Fall 1963, page 4

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