{"nrhp_refnum":"79003179","name":"Twin Bridges-West Paden Covered Bridge No. 121","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Off PA 487","address_restricted":false,"city":"Forks","county":"Columbia County","state":"PA","lat":41.10699105100008,"lon":-76.35671360299995,"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 covered wooden bridge in Forks, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, known as the West Paden Covered Bridge, measuring 112 feet in length. It is built in the Burr Truss Arch design.","why_significant":"The bridge is significant for its engineering and transportation role in Columbia County. The nomination notes that covered bridges were built in the county for their practical value in linking towns, farms, and saw and grist mills. It is also described as one of the county's covered bridges whose design and engineering are unique, since no covered bridges have been built there in the last half century.","narrative":"A covered wooden bridge spanning 112 feet, built in the Burr Truss Arch design with four diagonal braces on either side of a central king post. The arch is superimposed on both sides of the truss system, and a metal roof rests on thin wooden ribs laid over the rafters. Portals jut outward at the roof and slant inward at the deck, and one long continuous window pierces each wall. Most of the undergirding beams are wood, with a few horizontal steel reinforcements, and the stone abutments are original apart from minor concrete repairs. Oak, pine and hemlock were the usual lumber. Peter Ent is named as the builder. The bridge is important to the transportation history of Columbia County, where bridges were needed to link growing towns with farms and saw and grist mills. Its engineering is seen as distinctive for the county, which has built no covered bridges in the last half century.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Peter Ent (builder)","architectural_style":"Burr Truss Arch","criteria":["A","C"],"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 17:11:34.585561-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79003179.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003179/b2f0a3aa9c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003179/b2f0a3aa9c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WEST_PADEN_TWIN_BRIDGES.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:WEST_PADEN_TWIN_BRIDGES.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992808","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Bridges-West_Paden_Covered_Bridge_No._121","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7858086"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/columbia-county/twin-bridges-west-paden-covered-bridge-no-121-79003179/"}