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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Columbia, Essex 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/45-05-02#2 / NH-04-07
County: Essex County / Coös County
Township: Lemington - Columbia
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Columbia
Crosses: Connecticut River
Truss type: Howe
Spans: 1
Length: 146'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1912
Builder: Charles Babbitt
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N44 51.188
Longitude: W071 33.099
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Columbia Bridge Rd. between VT102 in Lemington, VT and US3 in Columbia, NH

Columbia Bridge, Columbia, NH - Lemington, VT. Built 1912
Bill Caswell Photo (1986)

Columbia Bridge, Lemington, VT - Columbia, NH Built 1912
Jenn Caswell Photo, September 27, 2013

Columbia Bridge, Lemington, VT - Columbia, NH Built 1912
Bill Caswell Photo, September 27, 2013

Comments:
The Columbia Bridge is the fourth bridge at this location. The first was built around 1820. It was swept away by the ice freshet of 1840. The ferry service resumed until the next bridge was built in 1844 by the Columbia Union Toll-Bridge Company. Apparently that bridge was blown down and replaced by a single-span covered bridge built by the Columbia Toll-Bridge Company in 1892. The 1892 span burned on August 8, 1911 when the toll house was set on fire by sparks from a passing locomotive. The current bridge across the Connecticut River (NHDOT #077/140) is a covered wood-and-steel Howe truss built by Charles Babbitt (some sources state Charles and his brother). It was rehabilitated by the state in 1981 at a cost of $143,000. It is the most northerly Connecticut River bridge connecting Vermont and New Hampshire. The Columbia Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1976. 14-panel truss.

Sources:
Marshall, Richard G.. New Hampshire Covered Bridges : A Link With Our Past, 1994, page 63
History of Coös County New Hampshire, 1888, page 734
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume V, No. 2, June 1947, pages 4 & 6
Connecticut River Valley Covered Bridge Society. Bulletin, Volume X, No. 3, Winter 1964, page 4
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 141

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