{"nrhp_refnum":"75002037","name":"Meems Bottom Covered Bridge","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"S of Mt. Jackson on VA 720 over North Fork of Shenandoah River","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mt. Jackson","county":"Shenandoah County","state":"VA","lat":38.72076875000005,"lon":-78.65521427699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-06-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 204-foot single-span covered bridge carrying Route 720 over the North Fork of the Shenandoah River south of Mt. Jackson, Shenandoah County, Virginia, erected 1893-1894 and supervised by F. W. Wisler.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the longest of the remaining covered bridges in Virginia, noted for high-quality timber and masonry construction and a scenic setting. It is a Burr Truss (Kingspost Arch) structure, a form patented in 1817 by Theodore Burr. A later amendment corrects the history of earlier bridges at the site.","narrative":"Meems Bottom Covered Bridge carries Route 720 across the North Fork of the Shenandoah River south of Mt. Jackson. Built in 1893-1894 under the supervision of F. W. Wisler, it spans 204 feet in a single Burr Truss, or Kingspost Arch, design patented by Theodore Burr in 1817. Locally quarried limestone abutments reach ten feet below the riverbed, and the pine timbers were cut on a nearby farm. The nomination regards it as the longest surviving covered bridge in Virginia and praises its timber and masonry work and its scenic setting. In 1937 steel I-beams were added beneath the roadway to strengthen it, and it remains in daily local use. A later amendment corrects the site's history: the present span is the fourth bridge at this location, following earlier structures lost to floods in 1870 and 1877. The bridge from 1862 burned by General Jackson stood elsewhere.","period_of_significance":"1893-94 (19th century)","architect_builder":"F. W. Wisler (supervised construction)","architectural_style":"Burr Truss or Kingspost Arch covered bridge","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent or good repair and used daily by local traffic; reinforced with steel I-beams in 1937.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.665984-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/6836/41683627/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/75002037.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002037/20843fd3d1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002037/20843fd3d1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"AgnosticPreachersKid","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meems_Bottom_Bridge_2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">AgnosticPreachersKid</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meems_Bottom_Bridge_2.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683627","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meems_Bottom_Covered_Bridge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712827"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/shenandoah-county/meems-bottom-covered-bridge-75002037/"}