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Philippi, Barbour 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: WV/48-01-01
County: Barbour County
Township:
Town/Village: Philippi
Bridge Name: Philippi
Crosses: Tygart Valley River
Truss type: Burr variation
Spans: 2+
Length: 304'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1852
Builder: Lemuel Chenoweth
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N39 09.180
Longitude: W080 02.604
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Just east of jct US119 on US250 at Philippi.

Philippi Bridge, Philippi, Barbour County, WV Built 1852
Trish Kane/Richard Donovan Collection

Philippi Bridge, Philippi, Barbour County, WV Built 1852
Bill Caswell Photo, July 16, 2008

Union troops marching through Philippi Bridge during re-enactment of the Battle of Philippi
Bill Caswell Photo, June 5, 2011

Comments:
Double-barrel, cement floor. This is the only covered bridge on the federal highway system. According to legend, Lemuel Chenoweth had convinced members of the Virginia Legislature to award him the contract to build the Tygart Valley River span by placing a wooden model of his masterpiece between two chairs and standing on it. When the bridge opened in 1852, there was a tollgate on the east end between the bridge and the railroad crossing. It was built as part of the Staunton to Parkersburg turnpike. At this location, on June 3, 1861, the first land battle of the Civil War was fought when Northern soldiers fired on a small garrison of Southern soldiers. During the war it served as a barracks for Union soldiers. On February 2, 1989, the bridge was accidentally burned when gasoline from a nearby filling station spilled onto the bridge and ignited. Dr. Emory Kemp led a team of West Virginia University restoration specialists to restore the bridge. On September 16, 1991, two years and seven months after fire nearly destroyed it, the Philippi Covered Bridge was returned to service when then Governor Gaston Caperton cut the ribbon officially reopening West Virginia’s premier wooden structure.

Sources:
Auvil, Myrtle. Covered Bridges of West Virginia Past & Present, 1973, pages 31-34
http://www.transportation.wv.gov/highways/bridge_facts/covered-bridges/Pages/PhilippiCoveredBridge.aspx
Wood, Miriam F. & Simmons, David A.. Covered Bridges: Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, 2007, pages 251-253, 276
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 157

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