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Dover, Mason County

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. Please contact Trish Kane for more information.

Inventory Number: KY/17-81-01
County: Mason County
Township:
Town/Village: Dover
Bridge Name: Dover
Crosses: Lee's Creek
Truss type: Queen
Spans: 1
Length: 60'
Roadway Width:
Built: c1835
Builder:
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N38 45.02
Longitude: W083 52.73
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.4 miles east of KY1235 and Dover on KY8, then 0.1 miles right on Lees Creek Rd.

Dover Bridge, Dover, Mason County, KY Built c1835
Bill Caswell Photo

Dover Bridge, Dover, Mason County, KY Built c1835
Bill Eichelberger Photo, October 1986

Dover Bridge, Dover, Mason County, KY Built c1835
Traugott Keller Photograph, March 28, 1953, NSPCB Archives

Dover Bridge after tornado of April 1968, Dover, Mason County, KY Built c1835
Todd Clark Collection

Dover Bridge, Dover, Mason County, KY Built c1835
Bill Caswell Photo, January 10, 2016

Comments:
Dover Bridge over Lee's Creek was built around 1835. It is one of the oldest covered bridges in Kentucky still in use. It was originally constructed as a toll bridge. The 62-foot span was built in an unusual Queenpost truss design similar to early barn construction. It was repaired by Bower Bridge Company in 1912 and raised to its present height in 1919 or 1920. It was rehabilitated by the Kentucky Highway Department in 1965 when the pitch of the roof was changed. Vent panels were not replaced. The bridge originally sat on natural limestone abutments. They were faced in concrete during the 1965/66 repairs to support the new steel I-beams added to handle increased traffic loads. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 26, 1976. It was bypassed in 2005, but not closed to traffic. Heavy rainfall during the night of July 22-23, 2017 caused significant damage throughout Mason County. During the flooding, the steel beams supporting the bridge, each weighing 12,000 pounds, were washed away. The bridge was shifted about two feet and left in a precarious position on its damaged abutments. In February 2018, Arnold Grāton Associates stabilized the bridge until a long-term restoration plan can be developed. 5-panel truss.

Sources:
Kentucky Historical Marker #1439
White, Vernon. Covered Bridges, Focus on Kentucky, 1985, pages 94-99
Database of Kentucky covered bridges compiled by Robert W. M. Laughlin
Laughlin, Robert W. M. and Melissa C. Jurgensen. Covered Bridges of Kentucky, 2007, page 115
Wood, Miriam F. & Simmons, David A.. Covered Bridges: Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, 2007, pages 243, 249
White, Warren H.. Covered Bridges in the Southeastern United States, 2003, Page 84
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 34

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