West Dummerston Covered Bridge
— — the long red shadow the river crosses under.
Not only on a wall.
“The longest covered bridge still carrying traffic in Vermont. Two spans of town lattice truss reach across the West River from Dummerston village, the timber stained the colour old barns settle into. In July the swimming hole below fills with families; in October the maples on either bank go the colour of the bridge itself. From the studio.
West Dummerston Covered Bridge, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
West Dummerston Covered Bridge spans 280 feet across the West River in Dummerston, Windham County, just off Route 30 north of Brattleboro. Built in 1872 by Caleb B. Lamson, it remains the longest covered bridge in Vermont still carrying vehicle traffic. The structure rests on a town lattice truss, interlocking diagonal planks pinned with wooden trunnels, patented by architect Ithiel Town in 1820. A full rehabilitation in 1998 added concealed steel reinforcement inside the original timber housing. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Below the bridge the West River widens into one of southern Vermont's most-used swimming holes. The river runs cold and clear from headwaters in the Green Mountain National Forest, joining the Connecticut River at Brattleboro about 9 miles south. Summer afternoons bring families with inner tubes from across Windham County; in spring the river runs high and the deck planks of the bridge hum under traffic. Brown trout hold in the deeper pools above and below the bridge piers, and the West River Trail follows the bank north toward Newfane.
The bridge sits on Covered Bridge Road, a short marked turnoff from Route 30 about 7 miles north of Brattleboro. Vehicles still cross daily at a posted 8-ton limit; the wooden deck rumbles beneath even passenger cars. A small dirt pull-off on the south side gives pedestrians a level view of both spans. The Vermont Agency of Transportation maintains the structure through every season and plows the deck in winter. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and rehabilitated in 1998.