TOWNSHEND — The Preservation Trust of Vermont has awarded Townshend Historical Society (THS) six $250 Robert Sincerbeaux Fund matching grants totaling $1,500 that will help with the town’s goal of preserving its historical stone arch bridges.
The West Townshend Bridge, built in 1910 of granite blocks and located just off Route 30 on Back Windham Road across Tannery Brook, is the largest James Follett bridge in Townshend. It is the featured photo on a fundraiser puzzle being sold to help with repairs to six remaining Follett stone arch bridges in the town. — COURTESY
The funds, awarded on Feb. 6, will be used to hire Michael Weitzner from Thistle Stone Works of Brattleboro to complete conditions assessments on the six surviving, historically significant stone arch bridges in Townshend.
All were built between 1894 and 1910 by James Otis Follett, according to Heidi Clawson, member of the THS board. Four of these bridges now appear in the National Historic Register, due to work done in the mid-1970s by a former local group, the Conservation Society of Southern Vermont (CSSV), which produced a brochure detailing Follet’s life and the local bridges he built.
Preservation Project team members conduct a site visit at Townshend’s Stone Arch Bridges in October. From left, Lee Petty (THS); James Duggan (Vermont Division of Historic Preservation); Andrew Snelling and Robert Desiervo (Townshend Planning Commission); Charles Marchant (THS) and Lisa Ryan (Preservation Trust of Vermont). — COURTESY
They are the Fair Brook Stone Arch Bridge, West Townshend Stone Arch Bridge, Buck Hill Stone Arch Bridge, and Negro Brook Stone Arch Bridge.
The other two bridges buillt in Townshend by Follet are the Simpsonville Bridge (also known as Simpson Brook bridge) and the Stone Arch Way Bridge.
Follett was a farmer turned stone-mason, a skilled craftsman and an intuitive engineer. Born in 1843, he lived and worked all of his adult life on his farm in Townshend. He was an active community member: He served as town road commissioner, was a deacon of the Congregational Church, and served during the Civil War at the battle of Gettysburg.
He had no formal education in engineering or masonry. Yet “he knew his craft well, for his bridges are both handsome and durable,” according to the 1976 brochure. Although several bridges have been washed out by floods or torn down, none has been known to fail structurally, and some in use today carry heavy truck traffic — “never imagined in Follett’s day.”
Follett built about 40 bridges in all, starting about 1894 and continuing to build one about every two years, bidding on local projects. He built his last bridge in 1910.
Six remain in Townshend and another three (possibly four) in Putney, based on a brochure originally written in 1976 by the now-dissolved conservation group.
“So that’s what is exciting to us about saving all these nine that are left,” Clawson said recently.
Although Follet’s family estimates that number is 40, there could be more, she said. Another bridge in Walpole, New Hampshire was destroyed in 2005. There are probably nine bridges still in existence, that are known, but “I think more and more will be discovered over time,” Clawson said.
In fact, she saw one recently in Brookline that she is fairly certain is one of his.
“He didn’t sign his name on them, but it sure looked like his,” she said.
Follett would often bid lowest on many projects, simply “because he loved to build bridges,” she said. “He probably didn’t make a lot of money. He just liked to do them.”
After his death, a group of townspeople erected a plaque in his honor which reads: James Otis Follett: Builder of Bridges and Men.
The study done 40 years ago by the local people on CSSV not only put Townshend on the National Register, but also makes the THS and the town eligible for grants, she said.
Townshend’s stone arch bridges are gradually deteriorating; stones that fall out in one place, cause a bridge to slump in another place. They are among the last remaining structures of their kind in Vermont, all according to the THS.
Now that this grant has been awarded, with a local 1-to-1 match required by the Trust’s funding regulations, work can begin on an assessment report for Townshend.
While the total cost to save or restore the bridges is still unknown, it recently cost more than $300,000 for work on a stone arch bridge in Putney, Clawson said. The Putney Sacketts Brook Bridge, costing $315,000 in 2005, was supported by funding from VTrans and the Town of Putney.
This report will reveal the cost for bridge work in Townshend, and will estimate how long it will take to complete that work.
Weitzner will start the assessment work in spring, when water is high, to see how the water will impact the bridges. The final report release date will depend on personnel and other factors. It will not only include his assessment of the bridges’ current conditions, but also a prioritized list of repairs, suggestions for approaching them, and preliminary cost estimates, according to THS.
The findings will be used to set overall goals for the historical society’s Stone Arch Bridge Preservation Project, a team that also includes the town’s planning commission, citizens, and the Historical Society. The bridges belong to the town, so they have ultimate say, but they had asked the THS to try to track down grants and shepherd first part through, Clawson said.
The Preservation Project has emphasizes that this “is a team effort,” with many entities working together, including the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation and the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), which may be able to also help with funding.
“We all want to see the bridges saved,” she said.
With the support of the Town of Townshend, the Historical Society is working to raise funds for the project, selling jigsaw puzzles for $27 featuring a photo of the West Townshend stone arch bridge by photographer’ John Herrick, who grew up next to bridge. They are also selling color prints by local artist Aldro Hibbard, at varied prices, in support of the effort. All may be viewed and purchased on the THS website, www.townshendvt.org, on its Facebook page and at local shops and galleries.
For more information, contact [email protected].
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.