Georgia's Covered Bridge Graveyard

In 1958 Georgia had between 77 and 85 covered bridges in the state. Before anyone realized how fast they were disappearing there were only 28 left in 1968. Time has continued to take its toll and there are now only 14.

The remains of "Brown's" covered bridge crossing the Chattahoochee River between Forsyth and Hall Counties. This bridge was washed away in the flood of February 7, 1946 which occurred shortly before the photo was taken. As can be seen in the photo, the bridge was a Town Lattice design with double top and bottom chords. It was carried downstream of its piers by the floodwater and laid to rest on the Hall County bank essentially intact owing to the stiffness of it's design and craftsmanship of it's builder and caretaker.

A Bailey Bridge (a pre-fab steel truss bridge used by the army in WW II) was constructed on the original piers as a replacement which served until the early 1950's when Lake Lanier rose to cover the site beneath over 120 feet of water. Recently, divers have reported what appeared to be a 400 to 500 foot long chicken house at this location. Go figure. The present day Brown's Bridge is located on S.R. 369 crossing over Lake Lanier just upstream of the original location near Lan Mar Marina.

John Irvine of the Florida DOT contributed this photo given to him by his grandmother, Martha Keith Irvine, showing family member Ruth Keith of Gainesville at "Keith's Bridge." Suspiciously similar to Brown's bridge above, John says this was the longest bridge in the state but burned sometime between 1948 and 1949 during the planning of Lake Lanier. He places the bridge between Hall and Forsyth Counties over the Chestatee River which joins up with Chattahoochee River near present day Keith Bridge Road.

Scanning the negatives was a real challenge. I have done my best to adjust contrast and brightness to show detail of the bridge, so a lot of backgrounds are washed out. Also, by reducing the resolution to 400 by 500 pixels a lot of detail is lost, like text on signs, etc.

Praither's Mill. This bridge between Georgia and South Carolina burned down and was the last covered bridge to join two states.

Chandler Bridge in Banks County over Grove Creek. Sawn down by vandals in 1968.

New Salem Bridge (also Brown's Bridge) over Gun Creek in Banks County. The last historic covered bridge to be built in the state, maybe around 1938 by Wiliam Madison Thomas, a Banks County commissioner. It was a queen truss with steel tension rods. One of many similar bridges, the design was not as sturdy as earlier bridges (perhaps in an effort to compete economically with concrete and steel bridges?) and all of these bridges have since been replaced or have collapsed. This one fell in 1984.

Kesler Mill Bridge in Banks County. Collapsed under snow load.

Somewhere in Banks County.

Kilgore Mill (also Bethlehem) Bridge on the Walton-Barrow County line over Apalachee Creek. See another picture or the historic marker. Destroyed by arsonists on April 23, 1993, this is the latest Georgia covered bridge to be lost. There was a small attempt to rebuild the bridge but the effort has so far suffered from a lack of funding.

Cobb County over Sope Creek. Burned by high school students.

Unknown bridge with arched portal. Russell Jackson contributed a color picture of a very similar bridge. On the back of that picture it said "Carlton, GA" which is a town near the Watson Mill and Howard Bridges. This bridge doesn't look like the Watson Mill bridge of today, which is also known as Carlton Bridge.

Dawson County over Amicalola Creek.

Unknown lattice truss bridge.

Newton County over Snapping Shoals Creek. Like Praither's Mill, had external chin braces for lateral support.

Unknown queen post truss bridge, on the verge of collapse.

Barrow County over Mulberry Creek.

Unknown bridge.

Unknown bridge with sign saying "Sanders Furniture Commerce."

Unknown bridge with Royal Crown Cola sign. Looks like it had metal siding that someone had kicked out from inside the bridge.

Meriwether County over White Oak Creek. Burned in late 1985.

Unknown bridge.

According to the Thomaston-Upson County archivists this bridge is the Woodland-Thomaston Road Covered Bridge over the Flint River at the Upson-Talbot County lines on GA Hwy. 36 Southwest of Thomaston. This bridge was destroyed in 1959 and this picture of the bridge was probably taken shortly before it was destroyed. Another picture.

Troup County. Neely over Whitewater Creek. Another picture.

Unknown bridge with horizontal weatherboarding.

Bridge on the Gainesville-Dahlonega Road. It looks like maybe they are building a new bridge, but the old bridge is still on its piers This picture was taken around 1915. If this bridge is at the Chattahoochee River (a good guess) these stone piers are also underwater upstream of Brown's Bridge (at the top of this page) near S.R. 60.

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Updated September 19, 2002. 12:44