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Hyde Hall, Otsego County

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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: NY/32-39-01
County: Otsego County
Township: Springfield
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Hyde Hall
Crosses: Shadow Brook
Truss type: see comments
Spans: 1
Length: 53'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1825
Builder: Cyrenus Clark, Andrew Alden, Lorenzo Bates
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N42 47.412
Longitude: W074 51.809
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 4.1 miles south of US20 and East Springfield to entrance on west side of CR31, then 0.4 miles into the park. The bridge is on the right on Glimmerglass State Park Rd.

Hyde Hall Bridge, Springfield, Otsego County, NY Built 1825
Trish Kane/Richard Donovan Collection

Hyde Hall Bridge, Springfield, Otsego County, NY Built 1825
Trish Kane Photo (Jun 2006)

Hyde Hall Bridge, Springfield, Otsego County, NY Built 1825
Bill Caswell Photo, August 31, 2015

Hyde Hall Bridge, Springfield, Otsego County, NY Built 1825
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
6-panel truss. The Hyde Hall Bridge and Pennsylvania’s Hassenplug Bridge are both listed as being constructed in 1825 making them possibly the oldest surviving covered bridges in the United States. A thesis written by Martin J. Rykel in 1996 included listed receipts from the estate’s files dated in 1825 which are believed to be related to the construction of the bridge. A review of the timber framing of the bridge confirms that there isn’t any evidence precluding the 1825 claim but cannot definitively prove that date. So far, no documentation has been found regarding maintenance to the span which could indicate if it was possibly a replacement for the 1825 bridge. Documentation of Hassenplug’s claim to construction in 1825 has not yet been found and we do know that it was extensively repaired in 1959. If the Hyde Hall is accurate, it was built by master carpenter Cyrenus Clark (1772-1864), with assistance from local carpenter Andrew Alden and stone mason Lorenzo Bates (1786-1859). The bridge was originally used as a means to cross Shadow Brook and give travelers access to the Hyde Hall Mansion. The bridge is commonly noted to be a Burr truss design. However, the Burr design is, in oversimplified terms, a multiple kingpost truss complimented with an arch which passes through the lower chord to the abutments or pier. The truss of this span is composed of low braces and counterbraces forming an “X” pattern between the vertical timbers. The Esperance Bridge, built by Theodore Burr in 1812, had a similar design. People traveling between the estate and Albany in the 1820s would likely have crossed this bridge, so it is not unreasonable to think it was familiar to the builders of the Hyde Hall Bridge and could have influenced their design. The covered bridge has been owned and maintained by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation since 1963. It was bypassed in 1965 when the entrance road to Glimmerglass State Park was constructed and a new concrete bridge built just west (downstream). The bridge was in poor condition at that time and repaired by the state in 1967. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 17, 1998.

Source:
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 57

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