{"nrhp_refnum":"83000641","name":"Carpenter Bridge","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Carpenter St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rehoboth","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.828047301000026,"lon":-71.25513753899997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small stone road bridge carrying Carpenter Street over the west branch of the Palmer River in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. It was built in 1873 by the Town of Rehoboth and is still a public roadway bridge.","why_significant":"The bridge is described as the only surviving example of the small stone bridges built across Rehoboth's many streams in the 19th century; others have been replaced with concrete and culverts. It replaced a c. 1720 wooden bridge on a road that began as an Indian trail. The form checks themes of architecture, exploration/settlement, community development and transportation.","narrative":"Carpenter Bridge carries Carpenter Street across the west branch of the Palmer River in a rural part of Rehoboth. Built in 1873, it is a dry-laid fieldstone structure with two abutments and a central pier flared at the top to shorten the span of the cap stones, which reach 10 feet in length. Low stone retaining walls run along the road for several yards. It replaced a double-span wooden bridge from about 1720, built when Carpenter Street, once an Indian trail, became a public road and carried sawn lumber, corn and grain. Town Meeting appropriated money for a lower-maintenance stone replacement, and road boss William Lake and three assistants finished it in two weeks for $218.15, using only local stone and locally milled timber. It is regarded as the last surviving small stone bridge of its kind in Rehoboth, since others were replaced by concrete and culverts. The town restored it in 1981.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"William Lake, road boss, with three assistants","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored in 1981; still in use as a bridge on a public roadway.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.355168-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/7894/63789447/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000641.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000641/68bda18a81-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000641/68bda18a81-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carpenter_Bridge,_Rehoboth_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</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:Carpenter_Bridge,_Rehoboth_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789447","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_Bridge_(Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5045704"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/carpenter-bridge-83000641/"}