{"nrhp_refnum":"75000572","name":"Kilgore Mill Covered Bridge and Mill Site","other_names":["Bethlehem Bridge","Apalachee River Bridge","Briscoe Mill Bridge"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"3.5 mi. SW of Bethlehem across Apalachee River/county line","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bethlehem","county":"Barrow County","state":"GA","lat":33.90009859500003,"lon":-83.74017989399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-span covered wooden bridge over the Apalachee River on the Walton-Barrow county line, about 3.5 miles southwest of Bethlehem, Georgia, together with the ruins of the nearby Kilgore mill site. The existing bridge was built in 1894 after an earlier bridge of 1874 was destroyed.","why_significant":"The bridge is one of 22 covered bridges remaining in Georgia and one of 13 using the Town Lattice truss. The adjoining mill site reflects frontier-era milling in Walton County, tied to the Kilgore family, who held the land for decades. Amendments corrected the bridge's construction date from 1874 to 1894 based on county court records.","narrative":"Spanning the Apalachee River on the line between Walton and Barrow counties, this covered bridge is a single 117-foot span built on the Town Lattice design, using rough-sawn pine joined with wooden pins at each intersection. It is 16.5 feet wide, rests on native stone piers, and has a sheet tin roof and plain barn-style portals. The bridge sits beside the site of Kilgore's Mill, where a saw mill and grist mill once operated from a dam just downstream. The land passed through lottery grantees and Joseph James to Willis Kilgore Sr. in 1833, and stayed in the Kilgore family for decades. Only traces of the dam, raceway and stone foundations survive. The bridge was first dated to 1874, but county court minutes later showed that the present structure was built in 1894. It is one of 22 covered bridges left in Georgia, and one of 13 built to the Town Lattice design.","period_of_significance":"1874 (original form); amended to 1894; 19th Century","architect_builder":"Originally credited to D. J. Thompson (1874); amendment documents R. J. Thompson (piers) and other Thompson family suppliers for the 1894 bridge","architectural_style":"Town Lattice truss covered bridge with plain barn-type portals","criteria":[],"status_note":"Bridge described as structurally good but needing repairs to roof, siding and north approach; still in use for transportation. Mill buildings no longer stand; only remnants of dam, raceway and foundations remain in a wooded area.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.913836-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/75000572.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000572/3bec9ef9b0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000572/3bec9ef9b0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KILGORE_MILL_COVERED_BRIDGE.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ MD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KILGORE_MILL_COVERED_BRIDGE.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206919","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilgore_Mill_Covered_Bridge_and_Mill_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q58904098"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/barrow-county/kilgore-mill-covered-bridge-and-mill-site-75000572/"}