{"nrhp_refnum":"66000610","name":"S Bridge, National Road","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"4 mi. E of Old Washington on U.S. 40","address_restricted":false,"city":"Old Washington","county":"Guernsey County","state":"OH","lat":40.045261727000025,"lon":-81.37413791599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1964-01-29","areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Communications"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-arch stone bridge on the old National Road (U.S. Route 40), about five miles east of Old Washington in Guernsey County, Ohio, built in 1828. Its curving approaches give it an S-shape in plan.","why_significant":"The bridge is argued to represent the National Road in Ohio and retains a great deal of historic integrity. It is one of four S-bridges still standing in Ohio and shows the quality of the road's bridge construction, which carried heavy wagon traffic while the crushed-stone paving wore down. The reviewers noted its engineering value but placed its main significance in its association with the National Road.","narrative":"Five miles east of Old Washington, Ohio, a single-arch stone bridge carries an old section of the National Road over a small brook. Built in 1828, it is about 185 feet long with its approaches, rises 18 feet above the water, and measures 26 feet between parapets. The stones are laid in irregular ashlar, with large buttresses at each end of the segmented arch. The straight span is joined by sharply curving approaches, which give the structure its S-shape in plan. It is one of four of its kind remaining in Ohio. Legend credits the design to a tavern wager between an English engineer and an Irish builder, though the likelier reason was that this form of arch was the easiest to build and used the least material. The bridge recalls the road that brought settlers into Ohio and carried its produce east. Though over 130 years old, it remains sound, and state markers at each end explain its history.","period_of_significance":"1828-present","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as structurally sound and unaltered, though stones have begun to fall from the walls and little recent maintenance is apparent. It is rated to carry five tons, and the State of Ohio has placed historical markers at each end.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.17816-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/66000610_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000610/1a1f357f2c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000610/1a1f357f2c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Bwsmith84 (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S_Bridge_by_Old_Washington.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bwsmith84 (talk)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S_Bridge_by_Old_Washington.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71986481","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Bridge,_National_Road","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7395340"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/guernsey-county/s-bridge-national-road-66000610/"}