Background The first covered bridge in the United States was built in 1800 over the
Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. According to Susan M. Zacher, author of
The Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania: A Guide, the first covered bridges of the Burr arch truss design were also built in the state. Pennsylvania is estimated to have once had at least 1,500 covered bridges and is believed to have had the most in the country between 1830 and 1875. In 2001, Pennsylvania had more surviving historic covered bridges than any other state, with 221 remaining in 40 of its 67 counties. Covered bridges were a transition between stone and metal bridges, the latter made of cast iron or steel. In 19th-century Pennsylvania, lumber was an abundant resource for bridge construction,
Construction and description All three Sullivan County covered bridges were built in or with Burr arch trusses. Rogers, a native of
Forksville, built both the Forksville and Hillsgrove bridges in 1850, when he was 18 years old. After the 2011 flood damage was restored, a plaque was placed on the bridge's west portal identifying Rogers as its builder. s and plaque added after the 2011 flood damage On July 24, 1980, the Sonestown bridge was listed on the NRHP in a
Multiple Property Submission of seven
Covered Bridges of Bradford, Sullivan and Lycoming Counties. The bridge deck is made of wide boards laid perpendicular to the axis of the bridge, with two runners on top of the deck which run the length of the bridge. Vertical boards cover the sides and portals of the bridge and are painted red. The Hillsgrove Covered Bridge was added to the NRHP in 1973, and the two other bridges were added in 1980. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission requires its approval for renovation work on NRHP bridges in the state, and forbids the destruction of these bridges.
Use, flooding, and restorations (large rocks) protecting the west abutment In the 19th century, the Sonestown Covered Bridge survived major floods on March 1, 1865 and June 1, 1889, that destroyed other bridges in the
West Branch Susquehanna Valley. The latter flood was caused by the same storm system that caused the
Johnstown Flood, which killed over 2,200 people. In 1885, the
Williamsport and North Branch Railroad line along Muncy Creek reached Sonestown, passing just east of the bridge. The railroad carried lumber, coal, and passengers until it closed in 1938. The covered bridge was built to provide access to a gristmill, The 1941 map (using data from 1939) no longer shows a water-powered mill there, although it does show two buildings on the east bank of the creek, with one just upstream and one just downstream of the bridge. Both of these buildings had disappeared by 1999. The NRHP form states that the bridge had been recently repaired in 1969, and that additional maintenance work was needed. The repairs done at that time included replacing some of the siding panels, reinforcing the abutments with concrete, and "very minor addition of steel to the truss structure". and an ice jam on
Plunketts Creek destroyed a mid-19th century
stone arch bridge which was also on the NRHP. The pressure of the flood on the Sonestown Covered Bridge moved the center of the structure almost downstream. This and other major damage closed the bridge from January until late December 1996. It was one of 69 publicly owned bridges in Pennsylvania destroyed or closed by the flooding. On November 12, 2000, a new "Veterans Memorial Bridge" just downstream of the covered bridge was dedicated. The new bridge is also part of Champion Hill Road (Township Road 310), and allows all vehicles to cross Muncy Creek. According to 2012 NBI data, the covered bridge was restored in 2001. was done in the summer of 2006. in September 2011.The bridge was damaged when Muncy Creek flooded from over of rainfall caused by
Tropical Storm Lee on September 7, 2011. The bridge was struck by debris carried by the creek leaving a tree trunk stuck in its side, the flood water reached its deck, and several cars were swept beneath it. That year Preservation Pennsylvania placed the Sonestown and Hillsgrove covered bridges on its "Pennsylvania At Risk" listing of endangered historic sites. The bridge remained closed to traffic in March 2012, with the extent of needed repairs still unclear. The 2016 NBI shows the bridge was "reconstructed" in 2013. the bridge was again closed by flood damage, with repairs expected in 2019. In July 2020, the Sullivan County Commissioners hired Lycoming Supply to repair the closed bridge for $116,559, using
FEMA funding. The NRHP form describes the bridge's condition as "fair" in 1969 and "good" in 1980. Zacher's 1994 book and the Evans 2001 book also listed it as in "good" condition. Despite this and the repairs and reconstruction, the 2016 NBI found the sufficiency rating of the bridge structure to be only 21.3 percent. It noted the countermeasures taken to help protect the bridge's foundations from
scour conditions (the potential for the stream washing them out). The NBI rated the conditions of the bridges deck as "Good", its superstructure as "Satisfactory", and its substructure as "Very Good", but found that its railing "does not meet currently acceptable standards". Its overall condition was deemed "basically intolerable requiring high priority of corrective action". In 1996, there was a tradition of decorating and lighting the Sonestown bridge for Christmas. In 2015, the average daily traffic on the bridge was 50 vehicles. As of 2020, it was the only remaining covered bridge over Muncy Creek, although the Muncy Creek
watershed also had the
Lairdsville Covered Bridge, which spanned
Little Muncy Creek in Lycoming County. According to Zacher, the "Sullivan County bridges, because of their settings, are some of the most attractive in the state". ==Dimensions==