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Kingsley or Mill River, Rutland County

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Inventory Number: VT/45-11-03
County: Rutland County
Township: Clarendon
Town/Village: East Clarendon
Bridge Name: Kingsley or Mill River
Crosses: Mill River
Truss type: Town
Spans: 1
Length: 121'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1870
Builder: Timothy K. Horton
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N43 31.429
Longitude: W072 56.462
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.3 miles east of jct VT7B on VT103, then 1.2 miles right on Airport Rd., 0.1 miles right on Gorge Rd., 130 feet left of East St.

Kingsley or Mill River Bridge, Clarendon, Rutland County, VT Built 1870
Bill Caswell Photo (1987)

Kingsley or Mill River Bridge, Clarendon, Rutland County, VT Built 1870
Richard E. Roy Collection

Kingsley or Mill River Bridge, Clarendon, Rutland County, VT Built 1836
Bill Caswell Photo, September 26, 2009

Kingsley or Mill River Bridge, Clarendon, Rutland County, VT Built 1870
Bill Caswell Photo, May 30, 2016

Comments:
The current World Guide listing has this bridge at 121' and built in 1870. This is consistent with the nomination prepared in documenting its historic status. It was probably rebuilt at that time. It was previously listed as being built in 1836 at 135'. Per the Rutland Weekly Herald, July 5, 1836, "A correspondent at Clarendon has been kind enough to furnish us with a correct account of the afflicting event which happened in that place on the 29lh ult. by the fall of a bridge. It will be seen by this account that it was Mr Harris Stuart, who lost his life instead of Levi, his brother, as we stated in our last. By this account it appears that five men went on to the bridge near Mr. Kingsley's Mills in the East part of Clarendon to repair it. That it immediately fell and precipitated them with the mass of timber and plank 20 or 30 feet into the river below, excepting a Mr. Spencer Smith who leaped into the river and escaped without much injury." So, there was some sort of a wooden bridge at the location even prior to 1836. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 1974.

Sources:
Rutland Weekly Herald, July 5, 1836.
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Vermont Covered Bridges, 2004, page 21
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 147