Main Street Covered Bridge

Little Northeast Creek skirted the town of North East in lower Cecil County. The Old Post Road, running east-west, first crossed over Little Northeast Creek on the west side of town, and as the creek turned to the east above Old Post Road, it was crossed by Main Street at the north tip of the community.

The Baltimore Sun reported in an article on March 3, 1856 that "the contract for building the bridge at North East has been awarded by the County Commissioners to Mr. Ferdinand Wood. The price to be paid is $2,370, the span of the bridge is 110 feet." The previous bridge at this site, probably not covered, was carried off in the flood of October 1855.

News about the bridge appeared in various articles in local newspapers. In The Cecil Whig of January 20, 1900, there is a report of an accident in the bridge between a frightened horse running through the bridge and a team of horses already in the bridge. Another article in The Cecil Whig on January 26, 1901, told readers "The large covered bridge on Main street was discovered to be on fire Wednesday morning." Mike Dixon, Cecil County Historian mentions the fire while writing about the North East Fire Department. "While North East may not have always had the most sophisticated fire-fighting apparatus in the early 1900s, its townspeople were certainly good at fighting the 'fire demon' with their buckets. 'The covered bridge on Main Street' caught fire in January 1901. Buckets in hand, citizens responded. They promptly put out that fire!"

The sturdy Main Street Bridge survived the flood of June 1884 with minimal damage while many other bridges in the North East area, including iron bridges, were lost.

UPDATED: 6/28/2010, for more detailed accounts of the existence of the bridge.