Old Humpback Covered Bridge acquired its name from its unusual configuration. The bridge spans Dunlap Creek with 100 feet from abutment to abutment. The actual length of the bride is closer to 120 feet because the center of the floor rises eight feet above its portals. This rise can be exemplified in an interior photograph.
Humpback Bridge was built in 1835. This is the oldest covered bridge in Virginia and the only one left built prior to the Civil War. There were three such “Humpback” bridges in the immediate vicinity. All three were part of a toll road, the James River and Kanawha Turnpike. One of the humpbacks was burned in the Civil War, and the other was lost in a flood in 1913.
The craftsman who designed and constructed this Humpback Covered Bridge was Captain Thomas McDowell Kincaid. Kincaid used a multiple kingpost truss, oak timbers and fashion pins out of locust trees to hold the beams together. Although the siding, floors and roof have been repaired and portions replaced, the truss and chords are made of the original hand-hewn oak timbers that Kincaid fashioned.
For ninety-four years the Humpback Bridge served travelers well. In 1929 the bridge was bypassed and a nearby farmer assumed it and use it for storing hay. In 1954, twenty-five years later, the bridge and the surrounding five acres were purchased by the Covington Chamber of Commerce, the Covington Business and Professional Woman’s Club, and the Virginia State Highway Department. The bridge was purchased, re-sided and repaired for $10,000.
Fondly referred to as the “Granddaddy of Covered Bridges”, Old Humpback can be seen today in a well-maintained park. The exterior has lap siding, a shake roof and rests on stone abutments that have had concrete pointing in the cracks. The interior has an eight-foot rise, a multiple kingpost truss and dry, worn crosswise floor planking. There are two useful designs of the tall, 8-foot cambered floor. One is that if large tree floats down the stream in a flood, hopefully the tree will pass through the center of the stream missing the bridge. The second engineering design for the camber is to support the weight of the bridge construction as well as the weight of the wagons, horses and carriages for its initial use.
Access to the creek is convenient because the Park incorporates the river banks into the bridge site. Old Humpback Covered Bridge is a must see for all covered...
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