Swift Water Covered Bridge
| Date: | 6/22/2024 |
| Location: | Bath, NH |
| Water Body: | Wild Ammonoosuc River |
| Year Built: | 1849 |
| Bridge Length: | 173 feet, 8 inches |
| Truss Type: | Paddleford truss |
| Parking: | pull off 1-2 cars |
| NH Bridge Number: | 29 |
Out for a rainy day drive. Decided to visit the Swiftwater Covered Bridge in Bath, NH. This is one of the oldest covered bridges in NH. It is also one of a just a few 19th century covered bridges in NH.
The bridge spans 173 feet over the Wild Ammonoosuc River. This single span bridge is a great example of the Paddleford truss design.
While we were there the water was flowing and rain was falling. I’ll have to come back on a better day to get some pictures of the bridge and the falls.
This is actually the forth bridge on this site built in 1849. The first one was built in 1810 and others were washed away in floods.
August 7, 2025 @ 4:27 pm
I more or less grew up about a mile from this bridge (OK, it was my family’s vacation house, but we spent all of our free time there, so the majority of my friends were from there), and spent many days swimming in the Big Eddy below it. The bridge had a Burr arch until its renovations in 1998-1999, when it was removed and a concrete support pier was installed beneath the bridge, roughly at the midpoint.
August 17, 2025 @ 7:59 pm
Hey Jonny, Tanks for the info on the Burr Arch. I didn’t know that.