Beaverkill Bridge, also known as Conklin Bridge, is a wooden covered bridge over the Beaver Kill north of the hamlet of Roscoe in the Town of Rockland, New York, United States, that carries Conklin Road through Beaverkill State Campground. It was erected in 1865, one of the first bridges over the river in what was then still a largely unsettled region of the Catskill Mountains.
It uses an unusual modification of the lattice truss design perfected earlier in the 19th century by Ithiel Town. There is some dispute over which of three men claimed as its builder actually did; it is likely that all of them had some role. It is one of the 29 historic covered bridges in New York State. After undergoing some repairs over the course of the late 20th century, in 2007 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the northernmost property listed in Sullivan County and the only one of four covered bridges in it to be listed. Repair and maintenance efforts continue.
Structure
The bridge is located along Campsite Road (County Route 30) in an area with the public campground, one of the oldest in the Catskill Park, on both sides of the river. It goes almost due east–west across a south-flowing stretch of the Beaver Kill's generally east-southeast flow at this point, nearly above sea level. The entire area is heavily forested and minimally developed. The road curves from the Cragie Clair Road junction to the south and ends at Berry Brook Road just across the bridge, a short distance south of the Delaware County line.
It is a hemlock lattice truss bridge supported by dry-laid fieldstone abutments faced in concrete at either end. On the east a ten-foot (3 m) approach ramp supported by a steel I-beam leads up slightly to the portal past a rustic wooden fence along either side of the road that becomes timber guide rails. A plank deck wide is supported by eight irregularly spaced stringers atop wood planks. Four of the cross beams extend beyond the bridge where they connect to the upper chord via sway braces. On either side vertical board-and-batten siding begins a foot below the lower chord and rises to a gabled metal roof, high, supported by tie-beam rafters with transverse metal rods and diagonal cross-bracing. Interior clearance is only , enforced by metal height restrictors near the portals.
Two sets of heavy timber planks serve as the top and bottom chords, with a secondary lower chord at deck level. Twelve-inch (30 cm) diagonals, fastened at each intersection by two-inch (5 cm) treenails, radiate out from the middle to either end. They are supplemented by additional diagonals at the ends and four wooden buttresses along the exterior on either side.
History
The bridge was an early step in bringing civilization to a remote area that had remained mostly unsettled well into the 19th century. It remained long after the small town that grew around it went into decline. In the mid-20th century a proposal to replace it aroused community opposition, and it has received extensive repairs since then.
1865–1880s: Core of a tannery town
For much of the early 19th century northern Sullivan County remained largely unsettled, partly due to ongoing land title disputes from the Hardenburgh Patent and partly due to its ruggedness and shortage of arable land. Only loggers, hunters and trappers ventured into the remote valley of the Beaverkill above its confluence with Willowemoc Creek via an 1815 road. A tannery was established near the bridge site in 1832, processing the bark of the abundant Eastern Hemlock trees in the region into tannin for the leather industry. The small hamlet of Beaverkill grew up around it, and several other tanneries followed.
That remained the only settlement in the area for some time. In 1859 the Town of Rockland was still described as "a rough, wild region". Seven years after the bridge was built in 1865, it had a population of roughly a hundred, a school and a post office. A bridge probably existed, though no record has been found.
The bridge has long been attributed locally to John Davidson, a Scottish immigrant whose father had settled the family in Downsville to the north to raise sheep. After his marriage, Davidson moved to Shin Creek (today Lew Beach) where he farmed, logged and owned a sawmill while raising a family of 14. One of the younger children, J.D. Davidson, said in a letter late in his own life, in 1942, that his father had built the bridge, along with two other covered bridges in the town over the Willowemoc, only one of which (Van Tran Flat) is extant.