Step back in time and see Kentucky’s covered bridges 

As you walk across the Goddard Covered Bridge in Fleming County, a century and a half of history echoes from the massive trusses stretching across Sand Lick Creek. 

Inscribed on walls inside are names like “T.D. Hutton 1898.” The view through the bridge frames the bell tower and white siding of Goddard Methodist Church, and you may hear bucolic sounds like a rooster crowing. 

Lori Ulrich, chair of the Buffalo Trace Covered Wooden Bridge Authority, says it is her favorite of the 11 remaining covered bridges in Kentucky, but she loves them all for their craftsmanship and peaceful settings. 

“It takes you back in time,” says Ulrich, who is also the marketing and public relations manager at Fleming-Mason Energy. “It’s the perfect place for a picnic or to read a book. They are a time capsule and an oasis. You can almost hear a horse-drawn carriage driving through. That’s why we need to preserve them.” 

Kentucky once had hundreds of covered bridges. Many were burned during the Civil War. Fleming County, billed as the Covered Bridge Capital of Kentucky, did not see many battles during the war, which may be why it has three surviving covered bridges and others not far away. 

As steel became more available in the 1920s, bridges no longer needed to be covered, and their single-lane width combined with the heavier loads of modern vehicles made them obsolete.  

For people wanting to see the remaining covered bridges in Kentucky, Ulrich suggests beginning in Flemingsburg at the Covered Bridge Museum, which promotes the history of the county’s covered bridges. 

These are the state’s 11 remaining covered bridges, from east to west.

1. Bennett’s Mill, Greenup County 

• Map it: At the intersection of State Route 7 and Bennett’s Mill Road near South Shore. 
• Noteworthy history: It was built around 1855, and Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his raiders were talked out of burning it by local Southern sympathizers. 
• Also nearby: Hiking trails at Jesse Stuart State Nature Preserve. 

2. Oldtown, Greenup County 

• Map it: At the junction of Frazier Branch and Conley Flats Road near Argillite. 
• Noteworthy history: Built across the Little Sandy River in 1880, it was closed to traffic in 1985 and then restored in 1999 after extensive repairs. 
• Nearby: Greenbo Lake State Resort Park. 

3. Cabin Creek, Lewis County 

• Map it: Cabin Creek Road near Tollesboro  
• Noteworthy history: The builder was likely Josiah Bryant, a noted covered bridge builder from Ohio. 
• Nearby: George Morgan Thomas Home in Vanceburg. 

4. Goddard, Fleming County 

• Map it: On State Route 32 near Flemingsburg 
• Noteworthy history: The only surviving example of Ithiel Town Lattice design, with timbers joined by wooden pegs. 
• Nearby: Echo Valley Winery. 

5. Grange City, Fleming County 

• Map it: State Route 111 to Hillsboro (stop at Fox Creek). 
• Noteworthy history: Arnold M. Graton Associates is restoring the 1865 bridge, using Douglas fir. 
• Nearby: The monument honoring native son Franklin Sousley, one of the World War II soldiers who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. 

6. Ringo’s Mill, Fleming County 

• Map it: State Route 158 and Rawlings Road. 
• Noteworthy history: The bridge and surrounding community were developed because of a grist mill on Fox Creek.  
• Nearby: Barn tour featuring the Fleming County Clothesline of Quilts. 

7. Dover, Mason County 

• Map it: Lees Creek Road, Dover (near Mary Ingles Highway). 
• Noteworthy history: Built in 1835, it’s considered by many to be Kentucky’s oldest covered bridge. It urgently needs restoration and repairs, Ulrich says.  
• Nearby: Augusta, hometown of actor George Clooney and site of a museum to his late aunt, singer Rosemary Clooney. 

8. Walcott, Bracken County 

• Map it: Near the intersection of Wellsburg  Walcott and Salem Ridge roads in Brooksville. 
• Noteworthy history: Restored in 2002, its sides are completely enclosed and painted white. 
• Nearby: Cabin Run Creek Campground. 

9. Johnson Creek, Robertson County 

• Map it: Covered Bridge Road, Mount Olivet. 
• Noteworthy history: Built by Jacob Bower, the bridge was completely restored in 2009. 
• Nearby: Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park. 

10. Colville, Bourbon County 

• Map it: Where Colville Road crosses Hinkston Creek near Millersburg. 
• Noteworthy history: It was built as a toll bridge, but visitors paid nothing if crossing for school, a funeral or on Sunday. 
• Nearby: Claiborne Farm, home (and burial site) of Secretariat. 

11. Switzer, Franklin County 

• Map it: Near the intersection of  Jones and Covered Bridge lanes on North Elkhorn Creek. 
• Noteworthy history: It was declared the Official Bridge of Kentucky by the state legislature in 1998. 
• Nearby: Daniel Boone grave/monument in Frankfort Cemetery, with beautiful views of the Kentucky River. 

New Hampshire firm a force in Kentucky covered bridge restoration 

At the Grange City Covered Bridge in Fleming County, master bridgewright Arnold Graton, 87, watches as a crew from his company lifts massive replacement timbers into place. 

“I’ve been doing this 70 years,” says Graton, one of America’s best-known covered bridge craftsmen. “I’ve built 17 new ones and worked on or repaired 70 more.”  

Led by his stepson Tim Dansereau, Arnold M. Graton Associates in New Hampshire is also restoring Ringo’s Mill, also in Fleming County, just 6 miles away. Others on the crew include lead carpenter Paul Garrison and Justin Garrison, both from Maysville, along with Ben Spence and Arnold’s wife Meg, who live in New Hampshire. 

The company worked as a consultant on the Goddard Covered Bridge restoration and also restored Johnson Creek, Cabin Creek and Beech Fork covered bridges in Kentucky (although Beech Fork was destroyed by fire in 2021). The firm has completed many more projects in other states.  

Dansereau says the reason to visit a covered bridge is to visit history. In addition to being central for transportation, the bridges were economic hubs for farmers markets and places where merchants sold elixirs and goods of all kinds, he says.  

“When you visit one, you see the old craftsmanship and how things were done 150 years ago,” Dansereau adds.