This bridge has also gone by the names “Martic Forge Covered Bridge” and “Pequea #12 Bridge” during its history. The bridge features a single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design with the addition of steel hanger rods. It spans the Pequea Creek at 155 feet in length, is open to daily vehicular traffic and is in remarkably good shape.
The bridge was originally built in 1856 by James C. Carpenter at a cost of $2244. After being damaged twice by flooding, it was partially rebuilt in 1938 by Edmund Gardner and 1973 by David Esh. Lancaster county completely rebuilt the bridge in 1992 for $350,000. During the restoration process the bridge was raised by 6 ft (1.8 m) and moved west a few feet to protect it from damage in potential future flooding.
The WGCB # for this bridge is 38-36-26. This is one of the Lancaster covered bridges with a great parking area for photographers to park safely while shooting it. There are numerous vantage points to shoot it from as well. It was a real joy to shoot this bridge. A tour map that includes this bridge and seven others on the Pequea Creek can be found here.
I shot this back on 5-8-2009 as five bracketed RAW frames and then combined them into an HDR with Photomatix Pro and finally, tone mapped that image to create the final product.
