By Marcel And Jeanne Beaudry
NEWBURY August 27, 2026 — On Wednesday, August 26th, Jeanne and Marcel drove to the Tucker Mountain Town Forest in Newbury, VT, to observe and participate in some of the assembly of a Chinese woven arch covered bridge. (Perhaps the first of its kind in North America!) VCBS member, advisory director, and president of the NSPCB, Bill Caswell, emailed them that on Monday, August 24th, the bridge assembly over Vance Brook would take place all week, weather permitting. He urged them to check it out. In fact, Bill drove from his home in NH to the site that day, took photos, and helped start the assembly. This bridge is part of an all-person hiking trail being constructed within the Newbury Town Forest Trail System. It will be handicapped- and wheelchair-accessible right up to the bridge itself.
John Nininger of Newbury and Adam Miller of West Corinth, both timber framers, have worked together at times on various projects. Being timber framers, they became intrigued by Chinese methods of woven arch bridge construction and decided to take a trip together to China in the summer of 2025. After 2 weeks of observing many bridges, they came back eager to try their hand at building one on this side of the world.
When we arrived at this site at 11:00 AM, we met John and Adam, along with 7 volunteers they had recruited; they had just finished a mid-morning break. They were about to assemble and erect the third set of 4 white cedar posts and cross beams that would support the bridge’s roof and railings. Marcel helped set this assembly into place; Jeanne took lots of photos. They stayed until 4:00 pm. By then, all 4 sets of posts were in place, and 21 purlin pieces were interlocked with them to support the roof. No nails or screws were used. It was a wonderful experience for them to see the process and meet some amazing people making this project a reality.