Sawhill Covered Bridge
Approximate location: the National Park Service places this pin arbitrarily within the property, not at a surveyed point (stated accuracy ±12 m).
Why it's listed
Built in 1915 over Buffalo Creek near Taylorstown in Washington County, Pennsylvania, the Sawhill Covered Bridge is a queenpost truss structure 49 feet long with a roadway 12 feet 6 inches wide. It has vertical wood siding and a raised seam tin-covered gable roof, and it carries a local road close to Pennsylvania Route 221. It was nominated as one of a group of covered bridges in Washington and Greene counties. Covered bridges of this common nineteenth and early twentieth century type were once widespread in Pennsylvania, and this group has a comparatively high survival rate in these rural counties. The bridges show the simple truss forms and local design features that characterized their construction in the region. Their survival is the basis for regarding the group as an important surviving record of this wooden bridge technology.
Significance in brief: The document describes the bridge as one of a group of covered bridges in Washington and Greene counties nominated together as a thematic resource. It notes that these rural bridges are a comparatively high-survival example of a once common bridge type in Pennsylvania, and that they illustrate the simplicity of their truss types and local design features.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 79002358, listed June 22, 1979. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence low).
Key facts
| Address | PA 221, Taylorstown |
|---|---|
| County | Washington County |
| Listed | June 22, 1979 |
| Reference number | 79002358 |
| Resource type | Structure |
| Architectural style | Queenpost truss covered bridge |
| Areas of significance | Transportation |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Acreage | 0.1 |
| Coordinates | 40.18017, -80.41614 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 79002358.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7428635
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.