The roof and siding of a covered bridge are the features that give the structure its familiar outlines. Some are thought to be more picturesque than others - Maine's Artist's Covered Bridge over the Sunday River in Newry, for example, has always been a favorite, and someone has said that artists have daubed more paint on their canvases depicting the structure than was ever slapped on its venerable sides. Other bridges look a little like barns unexpectedly left stranded across a stream. The bridges were covered for one reason - to keep the rain and snow from the massive working timbers. The alternate wetting and drying out of uncovered wooden structures would have resulted in rot and failure decades sooner.
Many people think of covered bridges as quaint relics of the past.
Others become expert in describing the manner in which they were built. But, in either case, they represent the inventiveness and know-how of our forefathers, and it seems fitting that they should be saluted for their engineering as well as their charm. The ingenious way the old bridges were fitted together becomes apparent as soon as you pass through one of their portals.