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Bennett-Bean, Oxford 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: ME/19-09-03
County: Oxford County
Township: Lincoln Plantation
Town/Village: Wilson's Mills
Bridge Name: Bennett-Bean
Crosses: Magalloway River
Truss type: Paddleford
Spans: 1
Length: 100' roof, 84', 92' floor
Roadway Width: 14’- 6”
Built: 1898
Builder: Mason Brothers
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N44 55.149
Longitude: W071 02.301
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 1.6 miles south of Wilson's Mills on ME16, then 0.3 miles right on Littlehale Rd. On bypassed section of road.

Bennett Bridge, Lincoln Plantation, Oxford County, ME Built 1898
Bill Caswell Photo, November 2007

Bennett Bridge, Lincoln Plantation, Oxford County, ME Built 1898
Bill Caswell Photo, November 2007
Bennett Bridge, Lincoln Plantation, Oxford County, ME Built 1898
Herbert Walker Photo, NSPCB Archives

Bennett Bridge, Lincoln Plantation, Oxford County, ME Built 1898
Richard E. Roy Collection

Bennett-Bean Bridge, Lincoln Plantation, Oxford County, ME Built 1898
November 5, 1924 Photo, Maine Department of Transportation Archives

Bennett-Bean Bridge, Lincoln Plantation, Oxford County, ME Built 1898
Earll Richard Stone Photo

Comments:
14-panel truss. The single-span Paddleford truss bridge was built over Magalloway River and covered the following year. The original abutments were log cribs which were later replaced with granite. The span was named after two families whose farms were connected to Wilson’s Mills by the bridge – Nathaniel Bennett and Josiah Carter Bean. It is said that planking for the bridge was milled in Upton, Maine, then rafted across Umbagog Lake and up the Magalloway River to the site, a total of 25 miles. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 16, 1970 and closed to traffic on September 9, 1985.

Sources:
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume LIX, No. 3, Summer 2001, page 8
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Maine's Covered Bridges, 2003, page 67
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 36

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If the intended use is beyond these purposes, it is the responsibility of the user to obtain the appropriate permissions from the owner stated in the image's credits.