This beautiful bridge spans the Huntington Creek in Columbia County Pennsylvania. Built in 1875 by Joseph Redline, it has a Burr Arch truss design and is 110 feet in length. In recent years it was completely refurbished and is in excellent condition. It is not open to foot traffic and has picnic tables inside where people can take a rest from the sun’s heat and have a nice picnic. Like several other Columbia County Covered Bridges, they had a visitor’s register that you could sign and when I read through it, I saw names from many different cities and states, all seemed to remark how peaceful the setting is.

Nikon D7000 with a Sigma 10-20mm lens, manual focus, aperture priority mode, five frames selected from two sets of exposure brackets each set was three brackets at 2 stop variance @ F11, ISO 100. HDR and tone map post-processing completed with Nik HDR Efex Pro.

The Stillwater Covered Bridge is located in the small town of Stillwater, Pennsylvania. The bridge was built in 1849 by James McHenry and runs 151 feet across the Fishing Creek. It features a burr-arch design and is open to only foot traffic, with vehicular traffic being disallowed since 1949. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979 as ref # NRHP 79003177.

Nikon D7000 with a Sigma 10-20mm lens, manual focus, aperture priority mode, exposure bracketing for three brackets at 1 stop variance @ F11, ISO 100. HDR and tone map post-processing completed with Nik HDR Efex Pro.

An young Amish couple cruise past Herr’s Mill Covered Bridge on Ronks Road in their horse and buggy.

I shot this one as a single exposure, hand held, through my car windshield while driving. Nikon D300 with Nikon 28-70mm F2.8 AFS lens, aperture priority mode, F7.1, 1/400th shutter speed, ISO 400.

Tetures blended into this one include those from Lenabem-Anna and Shadow House Creations.

This is Bucher’s Mill Covered Bridge, A.K.A. “Cocalico #2 Bridge”. The bridge spans the Cocalico Creek and is located on Cacalico Creek Road (T-955), near Reamstown, East Cacalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A marker etching on the inside of the bridge lists the span length at 64 feet but the Lancaster County Government Web Site lists the length at 54 feet and the national registry of historic places lists the span at 73 feet.

It was erected in 1892 by builder Elias McMellen, and one year later, the flood of 1893, washed it away. The bridge was rebuilt again later that same year, by the original builder. Single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design with the addition of steel hanger rods. The deck is made from oak planks. It is painted red, the traditional color of Lancaster County covered bridges. It is open to regular vehicular traffic. This bridge is one of seven Lancaster County bridges that are scheduled to be repainted and re-roofed in the coming months. Green World Contracting Corp. of Pittsburgh was awarded the contract to do the work.

I shot this as three bracketed RAW frames at 2 stop increments and then combined them into an HDR and tone mapped it with HDR Efex Pro from NIK Software. I did a little selective enhancement work with Topaz Adjust on a layer mask. Because I shot this from the concrete bridge that takes route 272 over the creek upstream, there was no room to setup the tripod with the legs fully extended so I closed them up and used the tripod as more or a monopod and prayed that I wasn’t going to get hit by a truck while quickly taking my shots from the roadway. [kids, don't try this at home !]

This bridge was built in 1887 and is located on Erb’s Bridge Road in Rothsville, PA, a remote farming community in Lancaster County. It crosses the Hammer Creek at a length of 80 feet and utilizes the Burr-Arch design in its construction. The bridge is open to daily vehicular traffic and is in great shape. The surrounding grounds are immaculately kept and groomed by the land owners making this a very beautiful bridge to visit. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 12-10-1980. An average of 380 vehicles use this bridge daily according to a 2006 road survey.

I shot this as three bracketed RAW frames at 2 stop increments and then combined them into an HDR and tone mapped it with HDR Efex Pro from NIK Software. I blended several textures from Shadow House Creations which gave it a nice painterly on canvas look I wanted. Thanks Jerry !

I shot this on July 4th during a five hour blitz through Lancaster County which included shooting eight Grist Mills, four Covered Bridges and one Amish Schoolhouse.

Also known as the Little Conestoga #1 Bridge, this structure is located on Shreiner Road just behind the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA. It is 53 feet long and 13 feet wide making it the shortest of the covered bridges in Lancaster County. It is also the only example of a single span, wooden, double pyramidal-shaped Burr-type trusses and a multiple kingpost design with the addition of steel hanger rods in the county. The bridge was built in 1873 by Elias McMellen on the farm of John L. Landis at a cost of $969.

I shot this as three bracketed RAW frames at 1 stop increments and then combined them into an HDR and tone mapped it with HDR Efex Pro from NIK Software. I blended several textures from the commercially available texture packs from Distressed Textures and one from Shadow House Creations which gave it a nice painterly look I wanted. Thanks Jewel and Jerry !

The Academia, also sometimes referred to as “Pomeroy”, Covered Bridge is the longest existing covered bridge in the state of Pennsylvania. It spans the Tuscarora Creek at a length of 270 feet and has a Burr-arch design. The bridge was originally built in 1870 by James M. Groninger. It underwent a complete restoration in 2009 carried out by P. Joseph Lehman, Inc., Consulting Engineers. Preservation efforts were necessary because of the extensive damage done to the bridge over the years by the Powder Post Beetle. Additional background on the history of the bridge can be found on the Juniata County Historical Society page, here. Photos of the restoration process can be found on this page

7 bracketed RAW frames @ 1 stop increments. HDR and tone map post processing via NIK HDR Efex Pro version 1.1.

The Lehman Covered Bridge, sometimes known as the Port Royal Covered Bridge, crosses the Licking Creek at a length of 108 feet. It is privately owned by the Lehman family and is used as a private road entrance to their property on Mayer Road. The original bridge on this location was built in 1888 and was destroyed by the floods that occurred after hurricane Agnes swept through the area in 1972. The Lehman family had the bridge rebuilt using a steel supported stringer type structure. There is a burr-arch inside the bridge for decorative purposes and to help illustrate the design of the original bridge. The bridge is well maintained and in excellent shape.

7 bracketed RAW frames @ 1 stop increments. HDR and tone map post processing via NIK HDR Efex Pro version 1.1.

The Kutz Mill Covered Bridge was built in 1854 by Bitner and Ahrens. It crosses the Sacony Creek at a length of 93 feet. The structure utilizes the Burr-Arch design and is in good condition. The bridge is owned and maintained by Berks County and is one of five remaining covered bridges in the county. Kutz Mill is located next to the bridge.

3 bracketed RAW frames @ 2 stop increments. HDR and tone map post processing via NIK HDR Efex Pro version 1.1.

This Chester County Covered Bridge was originally built in 1854 and then rebuilt in 1881. In April 2006, it was moved from its original location in Marsh Creek State Park and reconstructed on a spot bordering a housing development on Graphite Mine Road just off of the intersection with Route 100. Today it provides a scenic stop along a walking and jogging path. The bridge is in excellent shape and is owned and maintained by the State. The length of the bridge is 60 feet and it utilized a Burr-Arch design. Today, it crosses a ditch with no water running under it.

I shot this as three bracketed RAW frames at 1 stop increments and then combined them into an HDR and tone mapped it with HDR Efex Pro from NIK Software.