Burkeville Covered Bridge over the South River, Conway, Massachusetts
© 2016 J. G. Coleman
Sunlight and blue skies reveal a small New England hamlet glazed in icy snow left by an overnight storm. A weather-beaten covered bridge spans the gorge ahead, guiding us over the frigid river towards a white, steepled church in the distance.
When heavy rains began to fall on Central Massachusetts in early October of 1869, folks in the town of Conway probably thought nothing of it. What they couldn’t have known was that the downpour would last for two days straight, inundating the South River. Things went from bad to worse when a mill dam in town broke under the strain of the swollen river, causing a disastrous flood that demolished fourteen bridges downstream.
The covered bridge in the Burkeville section of town was the only crossing over South River that remained after the deluge. But in spite of its admirable resilience, it endured damage which was too severe to be remedied by simple repairs; the lone survivor was disassembled and a new covered bridge was built the following year. That very bridge, completed in 1870 as Conway struggled to rebuild, still spans South River to this very day. Staying true to its legacy of endurance, it is now the only covered bridge in the entire region to have survived the onslaught of progress.
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