A Short History of the Sayre or Thetford Center Bridge

by Joseph C. Nelson¹

The Sayre Bridge, believed to be a Haupt Truss span, is the only one of its kind in New England, and one of just three in the United States. While the names of the builders are lost, the truss designer is remembered by Civil War buffs as the colonel who built and ran the U.S. Military Railroad in the South for Union forces.

Herman Haupt graduated from West Point in 1835. He resigned his commission to become district superintendent and chief engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad. When the war began, he was drafted to serve as superintendent of military railroads. He pushed his tracks through Virginia, building trestles out of found materials described by Abraham Lincoln as "bean poles and corn stalks."

The Haupt design, as used here, resembles a multiple kingpost truss. It differs in that it is assembled from planks instead of square timbers and is joined with treenails rather than with mortise and tenon. The builder integrated the whole with a segmented plank arch.

The bridge was restored in 1963 with a mid-span concrete pier and four steel I-beams supporting a new laminated deck. The work was estimated by the VAOT to cost about $30,000, with $6,000 being the Town's share. The Town replaced the siding and roof as part of a community project.

The Thetford Center Bridge underwent repairs again in 1997 after a dump truck driven by a local resident tried to drive through with its bed raised. He went part of the way, taking off two-thirds of the roof, wrote Bob Brown in his booklet: Thetford Center Covered Bridge.

The Select Board voted to award the work to local craftsmen. Hemlock timber was cut and hauled from the town forest to replace thirteen tie beams. The accident occurred on Thursday, October 16. By December 16, the repairs were complete, and the first car passed through the bridge.

For a blow-by-blow story of the 1997 reconstruction with twenty color photographs of the work in progress, see Bob Brown's booklet.

The Sayers Bridge is easily reached from I-91 Exit 14. Drive west two miles on Route 113, then take Tucker Hill Road south through Thetford Center. Sayers Bridge crosses the Ompompanoosuc River above a millpond. The river flows over a ruined dam and cascades down terraces of bedrock.

Popularly known as the Tucker Hill Bridge, or as the Sayre Bridge after the furniture mill owned by the Sayre brothers that once operated here, the bridge was listed on National Register of Historic Sites on September 17, 1974 as the Thetford Center Covered Bridge

When the Sayre Bridge is viewed from the top of the falls, the scene is hard to equal. The truss used in the span is a unique adaptation of Herman Haupt's 1839 patent. The midstream pier was added in 1963.

The Sayre Bridge after the Winter 1997 reconstruction. This view shows the new roofing.