Paper Mill Covered Bridge

Paper Mill Covered Bridge carries a single lane of traffic across the Walloomsac River in Bennington. Its red siding, white-trimmed entrance, and enclosed wooden passage preserve a familiar feature of Vermont’s roads: a covered bridge that remains part of everyday travel.

The original bridge was built in 1889. Approximately 125 feet long, it used a Town lattice truss, a framework of crossing wooden planks that supported the roadway. The bridge’s later history reveals the challenges of keeping such a structure in service.

Extensive repairs in 1952 were followed by further deterioration. By the 1980s, vehicles used a bypass while pedestrians continued crossing the wooden span. During the 1990s, additional bracing became necessary to stabilize it.