Bridges of Indiana's Counties - Parke Co. - #59 Thorpe Ford (24/31)

Thorpe Ford Covered Bridge
7/3/2009  dwm photo

As I looked in folders holding photos for each covered bridge, it is easy to identify the early bridges.

The Thorpe Ford Covered Bridge was one of those, back in July 2009.  There are four pictures, all taken from the same angle.

The road and bridge was replaced decades years earlier leaving it for pedestrians and bridge tourists.

It was condemned in 1960, replaced in 1961 and left by the side of the road.

I wish I walked on the bridge and checked out Big Raccoon Creek.

The Thorpe family lived near the bridge when it was built in 1912 (the same year the Titanic sank).  A second generation still owned the land around 1950.

The "Ford" refers to a shallow area in the creek where horses and wagons could safely cross.

The bridge served the area 50 years.
7/3/2009  dwm photo

While area history starts 100 years earlier, the bridge doesn't seem to figure into much of it.

It was part of the Ben Hur Highway connecting Crawfordsville to Terre Haute.  The man who wrote Ben Hur, Lew Wallace was from Crawfordsville.

He wrote the best-selling 19th century classic in 1880 after serving in the military during the Civil War.  The General Wallace Museum is in his home town.

Parke Co, IN
internet image

Thorpe Ford Covered Bridge

Built:  1912 by J. A. Britton near Rosedale.  It has not moved.

Style:  Burr Arch

Length: 163 feet over Big Raccoon Creek

 You can visit many more covered bridges by crossing the link.