details

Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

Home

Milton or Sink's Mill (original location), Cabell 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/48-06-01
County: Cabell County
Township:
Town/Village: Milton
Bridge Name: Milton or Sink's Mill (original location)
Crosses: Mud River
Truss type: Howe & Arch
Spans: 1+
Length: 148'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1876
Builder: R.H. Baker
When Lost: 2000
Cause: Moved
Latitude: N38 25.86
Longitude: W082 08.37
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.3 miles south of I-64 on CR13 (Exit 28), then 0.8 miles right on US60 and 0.3 miles left on CR25.

Milton or Sink's Mill Bridge at original location, Milton, Cabell County, WV Built 1876, removed 1998, rebuilt 2002.
James Huey Photo, August 1966

Milton or Sink's Mill or Mud River Bridge, Milton, Cabell County, WV. Built 1876, built at new location in 2002.
Bill Caswell Photo, February 2009

Milton or Sink's Mill or Mud River Bridge, Milton, Cabell County, WV. Built 1876, built at new location in 2002.
Bill Caswell Photo, July 4, 2010

Milton or Sink's Mill Bridge at original location, Milton, Cabell County, WV Built 1876, removed 1998, rebuilt 2002.
G. Thomas Toy Photo, 1990's, NSPCB Archives

Comments:
According to Myrtle Auvil's "Covered Bridges of West Virginia", an article in the Cabell Record noted that a covered bridge was built at this location in 1834 replacing a ferry operated by John Morris of Teays. During the Civil War, the bridge was protected by Union troops. According to the West Virginia Department of Transportation, the bridge was built in 1876 by R.H. Baker and served vehicular traffic on Cabell County 25 until deterioration limited its use to pedestrians only in 1985. A new bridge was constructed upstream in 1991 and the covered bridge was closed even to pedestrians in March 1996. In December 1996, Orders Construction Company, Inc. of St. Albans was awarded a $224,840 contract to secure the historic structure until plans for its restoration could be completed. Only a short time before the 1997 flooding that could have destroyed the bridge, the contractor stabilized and moved it—without roof, floorboards or siding boards—to a less flood-prone site on County 25 about a mile southeast of its original location, where it could be stored. Here, on the old approaches of another former covered bridge, the James River and Kanawha Turnpike’s original crossing of Mud River, the bridge was expected to be rebuilt in 1998, using the abutments from the crossing’s original covered bridge as well as stone from the Milton site to maintain the historic aspects of both. But in February 2001 bids were once again taken to move the 125-year-old structure. Ahern & Associates, Inc. of South Charleston was awarded a $900,000 restoration contract, which allowed the bridge to be moved as it was and called for new concrete abutments to be encased in the stone from the original site, truss repair, installation of a stainless-steel roof and addition of wooden siding to resemble the original. That October, the restored structure was dedicated at the fairgrounds site. The present bridge is supported by a ten-panel truss that had a four-ply laminated Burr Arch added, during 1971 repairs. The single-span bridge now spans a pond, the larger part with a small island on the northeast side. Restricted to foot traffic, an asphalt-paved walkway leads to the southeast portal and extends a short distance from the northwest portal. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, under the name Mud River Bridge, on June 10, 1975.

Sources:
Historic American Engineering Record Report (HAER WV-32), 1975
Auvil, Myrtle. Covered Bridges of West Virginia Past & Present, 1973, pages 49-54
http://www.transportation.wv.gov/highways/bridge_facts/covered-bridges/Pages/Milton.aspx
Travis, Dale. 'West Virginia Covered Bridges List', updated to 23 Feb 2005, http://www.dalejtravis.com/cblist/cbwv.htm (12 Mar 2005)
Wood, Miriam F. & Simmons, David A.. Covered Bridges: Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, 2007, pages 256, 276
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 157

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.