the wandering chick
...Ohio's Ashtabula County
and around
I have a real appreciation for barns and covered bridges. I suspect it stems from my daddy who would pass up the "good" wood and go for the old broken fence pieces that someone left in their ditch. With it, he would make beautiful rustic tables and cabinets and such.
So, when I learned that Ashtabula had more covered bridges than any other nearby county that I was in, I went on a search for them. Lucky for me, a very detailed map was to be found at a tourist info center. Many of the bridges are named for the street they're on.
I didn't cover all 19 bridges, but I found a fair share, and in between the bridges were farms, old barns, and beautifully landscaped country homes.
I was in Heaven on old back roads less traveled.
I also stopped by the birthhouse of Thomas Edison in Milan and walked the town square of Painesville, both in surrounding counties of Ashtabula.
Smolen-Gulf is the longest covered bridge in the U.S. at 613 feet.It stands 93 feet above the river. This bridge and the nearby Riverview (pictured below) are of recent construction (dedicated in 2008 and 2016 resp.) and are a part of the Indian Trails Park. They span the Ashtabula River.
These photos of Riverview bridge were taken from the Smolen-Gulf bridge that rises above it.
The Netcher Bridge is one of the newer bridges in Ashtabula County. It opened to traffic in 1999. It spans Mill Creek.
This poor, sad bridge is the South Denmark Bridge. It was constructed in the early 1890s.
The Caine bridge was built in 1986 in honor of the county's 175th anniversary. It spans a branch of the Ashtabula River.
This is Graham Bridge, and it was built with salvaged boards from another bridge that was destroyed in the 1913 flood.
Riverdale Bridge was built in 1874, spanning the Grand River.
Harpersfield bridge was my favorite. It's 228 feet long and was built in 1868. It is Ohio's 2nd longest bridge. In 1913, a flood changed the course of the river, so a steel link had to be added to the north end. This bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Mechanicsville Bridge is believed to be the oldest in Ashtabula County, built in 1867, but renovated in 2003. Another view of it is in the photo to the left.
Taken in Harpersfield
This is the birthplace of Thomas Alva Edison, born in 1847. The house was built in 1841 by his father Samuel. The inventor lived in the home until 1854, at the age of 7 when the family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. It's located in Milan, Ohio, on N. Edison Drive. The home is now a museum of Edison artifacts, and the house next door is the museum administration offices.
In wandering the backroads, I came into the town of Painesville and its beautiful town square. Painesville is the county seat of Lake County. Pictured here is the Painesville United Methodist Church.
The Pymatuning State Park is based on a huge lake that shares the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. This shot was taken from the Pennsylvania side, but the gull (pictured below) that landed on my car while I was studying a map lives in Ohio, or perhaps both states.
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State Road Bridge was built in 1983 out of 97,000 feet of southern pine and oak. It spans the Conneaut Creek.
Giddings Bridge was built in 1995. It is 107 feet long and spans Mill Creek.
A statue of young Thomas Edison sits in the town square's park.
Painesville County Courthouse
It turns out that Thomas Edison's old neighborhood has a roaming pet. This is Percy the Peacock.
