{"nrhp_refnum":"79003174","name":"Keefer Covered Bridge No. 7","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"SR 346","address_restricted":false,"city":"Washingtonville","county":"Montour County","state":"PA","lat":41.03311226200003,"lon":-76.69149614999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 78-foot covered bridge near Washingtonville in Montour County, Pennsylvania, built in 1853 by William Butler. It has cut stone abutments and uses the Burr arch trussing system.","why_significant":"The bridge is significant for its engineering and its role in transportation. Its rectangular board and batten portals are unusual for Pennsylvania. Montour County has only two remaining covered bridges, and one of them is shared with Northumberland County.","narrative":"Located near Washingtonville in Montour County, Pennsylvania, the Keefer Covered Bridge is a 78-foot covered span built in 1853 by William Butler at a cost of $498. It rests on cut stone abutments and uses the Burr arch trussing system, with a gable roof and rectangular portals of board and batten construction. Its side walls are sheathed in vertical planks of varying widths. The bridge was built near Geringer's Mill, a site about which little is known, and is possibly named after builder George W. Keefer, though the record is uncertain. Covered bridges replaced open wooded bridges because they lasted longer, and rapid town growth and farm-based commerce, including saw and grist mills, created demand for crossings linking those activities. The Keefer bridge is significant for engineering and transportation. Its portal design is unusual for Pennsylvania, and Montour County has only two surviving covered bridges, one shared with Northumberland County.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"William Butler (builder)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.788239-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79003174.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003174/10e4e5a53d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003174/10e4e5a53d-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keefer_Mill_Covered_Bridge_PA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keefer_Mill_Covered_Bridge_PA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993402","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keefer_Covered_Bridge_No._7","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6382699"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/montour-county/keefer-covered-bridge-no-7-79003174/"}