Covered Bridges of Ashtabula County

Typically when one mentions Ohio, people automatically picture themselves cruising across I-80 enroute to Cleveland, Cedar Point, Sea World or some other popular tourist trap.  Little do they realize that tucked away in the far North Eastern corner of the state is a hidden treasure called Ashtabula County.  While Ashtabula County may not be the typical destination for travelers, perhaps it deserves another look if you are a lover of covered bridges.  Ashtabula County is the home of at least 17 beautiful covered bridges each unique and different from each other.  If one is so inclined to explore these beautiful bridges it is easy to look online and find the coordinates to each of them.  You will not be dissapointed and after visiting one you will find yourself anxious to check out the next, and the next, until you've seen them all.  We recently spent a full day exploring all of these bridges and we're sure glad we did.

    This is an arch truss construction and the mere size of these curved beams was amazing.

The Smolen Gulf Covered bridge is shown in the above pictures.  This bridge certainly lacks the charm of an old historic structure but while lacking in charm it more than makes up for that in its size and construction.  This particular bridge is 613 feet long and it is made entirely of wood with the exception of the metal roof and concrete piers.  The entire under structure is made of Douglas Fir and Yellow Pine with the main beams being 3 foot wide.  This bridge sits 93 feet above the Ashtabula River and will support two lanes of legal weight traffic.  There are covered passenger walkways on both sides of the bridge and seperated from traffic.  What an awesome bridge!!!

There are 17 Covered Bridges in Ashtabula County but we didn't want to spoil the surprises by showing all of them.  This was an awesome old bridge and we were treated to the sound of clipety clop as an Amish buggy traveled thru.

Aside from the covered bridges, Ashtabula County is home to many Amish farms.  We stopped and asked these giggly young ladies if it would be okay to take their pictures.  They smiled and giggled and allowed us to take a quick photo.