Foundation For Kentucky's Lost Covered Bridges

This website is about the role that Kentucky's lost covered bridges played in The Civil War and in the development of the state. Many of  The Civil War Battles that occured in Kentucky involved the burning of , and in the defense of, a railroad and/or roadway covered bridge.

   For whatever reasons The Civil War started over,  it quickly became a battle over bridges.  When The Civil War began, The North blockaded the coastline of the Confederate States and then began a systematic process of destroying railroad tracks, locomotives, covered bridges, canals and train depots. The South did the same to the North, though not to so much extent. The South was guilty of burning the majority of the road bridges during the war.

   When battles were being lost, oftentimes the losing side would retreat across a covered bridge to the other side of the river and burn the bridge to prevent troops from following. Sometimes bridges were burned to prevent fresh troops from reinforcing weary armies. Some battles were fought and lost while fresh troops watched from the other side of the river, unable to help their comrades.

We ask that all photos and information posted on the site not to be copied or reproduced without our permission. This site is copywrited but is for the use of educational purposes.   We are doing this in order to be able to receive outside sources that would otherwise be unavailable without  this restriction.

LEGEND

The Legends on the determination of a covered bridge.  On our site we list the following terms.;

Covered Bridge that is called that on our website because it is known to be an actual covered bridge.

Bridge is known to be an actual bridge. This could be a wooden, stone or any other bridge including a covered bridge but it is not known whether to be a covered bridge or not. These bridges are placed on the website in order to be researched.

Ford; is called that because it is known to be an actual ford. Some fords became bridges or were once bridges destroyed in some way. Some covered bridges are actually called a so and so ford bridge. Because the map says it is a ford, the term can be deceivving when researching bridges.

Ferry; is an actual ferry but some ferries became a bridge later or sometime prior to becoming a ferry.

River Crossing; this shows on a map as a road that crosses some watercourse but it is unknown whether a bridge is present or was present. It could be any of the above terms used above.

This website is a place of research and all the terms above are listed and used throughout the website in order for them to be researched. The research on this website will be many years in the making with the contribution of several dedicated people.

Covered bridge at  Cynthiana Kentucky                                                        From The Library of Congress

Colonel Michael Corcoran                                                                       From The Library of Congress

  1794 map of Southeast Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia                                                                                                 

 From The Library of Congress

     The L&N Fortified Covered Bridge over the Cumberland River 

                            From the  Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society