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Green Sergeants or Sergeantsville, Hunterdon County

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Inventory Number: NJ/30-10-01
County: Hunterdon County
Township: Delaware
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Green Sergeants or Sergeantsville
Crosses: Wickecheoke Creek
Truss type: Queen
Spans: 1
Length: 84', 85' 4" overall, 79' 8" span
Roadway Width: 13' 9"
Built: 1872
Builder: Charles O. Holcombe
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N40 26.639
Longitude: W074 57.968
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 3.4 miles northeast of NJ29 and Stockton on CR523 to Sergeantsville, then 1.2 miles left on CR604 (Rosemont Ringoes Rd.). West of Sergeantsville.

Green Sergeants or Sergeantsville Bridge, Delaware, Hunterdon County, NJ Built 1872
HABS-HAER Report, NJ 442, taken July 31, 1937

Green Sergeants or Sergeantsville Bridge, Delaware, Hunterdon County, NJ Built 1872
Jim Allen Photo, May 2013

Green Sergeants or Sergeantsville Bridge, Delaware, Hunterdon County, NJ Built 1872
Bucknell University: Nelson F. Davis Covered Bridges Photograph Collection, July 22, 1937

Comments:
County Bridge D-304. The distance from normal water level to the floor surface (in 1937) was 13’6”. The bridge is named after farmer Richard Green Sergeant, who operated the nearby mills. Most of the following text is courtesy of: http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/mun/delaware.htm#bridge Although the masonry abutments were built in 1750 [Note: the preceding bridge, or its type is not mentioned], the Green Sergeants Bridge was built in 1872 in accordance with the County Freeholders’ motion adopted September 16, 1872. Charles O. Holcombe was the designer and chief carpenter. He used a modified Queen Post truss construction. By 1932 the state's last surviving covered bridge was in bad shape. Flemington bridge builder John Scott was hired to reconstruct it. In 1960 the bridge was condemned as unsafe for heavy traffic. Based upon the poor condition of the bridge, the county Freeholders approved an engineer's recommendation to tear it down. And 81 area residents signed a petition calling for a modern bridge. But those voices were soon overwhelmed by the newly formed Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge Association, whose goal was to “save the link with the past'” and their quest gained national attention. The county finally agreed to saving the bridge. It was dismantled and rebuilt in 1961 by Chapman & Son with the addition of steel girders and other steel reinforcing to strengthen the original bridge lumber. The covered bridge, with an 8-ton posted capacity, is used now for westbound traffic only. East bound traffic uses a newer, single lane, concrete deck bridge next to the rebuilt historic bridge. The bridge was closed in 2003 for reconstruction work.

Sources:
Brydon, Norman F.. Of Time, Fire and the River, 1970, pages 30-32
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, September 2011
Garlipp, Richard. New Jersey Covered Bridges, 2014, pages 103-105
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 54

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