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Smith's Covered Bridge

COUNTY WORLD GUIDE # CROSSES TRUSS SPANS LENGTH BUILT GONE
Harford MD-12-11x Deer Creek Burr arch 1 Unk 1846-47 About early 1940s
One of the many covered bridges that crossed Deer Creek in Harford County was Smith's Bridge. The Belair Times in an undated article likely from the late 1930s, mentions Smith's Bridge:
Another covered bridge in Harford County and located over Deer Creek known as "Smith's Bridge" is on the road from Hickory to Ady. Mr. William H. Michaels tells us it was built in 1849. The bridge is still in use and probably will be for many years.
Smith's Covered Bridge was located approximately 1.5 miles south of Ady and 3 miles north of Hickory across Deer Creek close to where MD Route 543 currently crosses Deer Creek.
Early Maryland Session Laws of 1830, 1836 and 1838 provided acts for building a bridge over Deer Creek at William Pyle's Saw Mill. The bridge was probably never built, which was not uncommon during that period for money was not always available in a timely manner. Specifics for building the bridge were not given.
The Maryland Session Laws of 1845, Chapter 198 provided for "an act for building a Bridge over Deer Creek, at William Pyles' Saw-mill, at or near the old Ford leading from Bel-Air to Mrs. Brown's." The act was passed on March 4, 1846. It called for "a good and substantial bridge, with two stone abutments, and one or more piers; the bridge to be weather-boarded, and covered in with cedar or pine shingles, and done in a workmanlike manner, and for a sum not exceeding eight hundred dollars." The actual completion date of the bridge is unknown but likely to be 1846-47.
Smith's Covered Bridge
Smith's Covered Bridge. Photo probably late 1930s, from Maryland State Highway Administration website.

UPDATED: 2/6/2010, for information from Maryland Session Laws. Build date more defined; truss determined from photograph to be a Burr arch.
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