Sachs Bridge
Gettysburg, PA
The Sachs Covered Bridge was built around 1852 at a cost of $1,544 and was about nine years old when the Civil War began and is one of three covered bridges remaining in Adams County. On July 1, 1863, the bridge was crossed by the two brigades of the I Corps of the Union Army heading towards Gettysburg. The III Corps also crossed the bridge heading to the Black Horse Tavern. Four days later, the majority of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia retreated over the bridge after the Union victory in the Battle of Gettysburg." The infantry of Lee's army left the battlefield late on July 4, while the retreating wagons were still crossing the mountains at Cashtown. Portions of James Longstreet's First Corps tramped across the Sachs Bridge en route for the Fairfield Road (today's Route 116). Lee's army moved to Fairfield, where it divided and crossed the mountains through the passes at Fairfield and Monterey.
The bridge was designated Pennsylvania's "most historic bridge" in 1938 by the predecessor of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the Department of Highways. After a plan in 1960 to replace the bridge, the Cumberland Township officials voted to close the bridge to vehicular traffic, while leaving it open to pedestrians, on May 9, 1968. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1980. The bridge is also known as Sauck's Covered Bridge, Waterworks Covered Bridge & Sauches Covered Bridge.
The bridge construction is quite interesting. The type of bridge is called a Town Truss which looks like a lattice. A lattice bridge is a form of truss bridge that uses a large number of small and closely spaced diagonal elements that form a lattice. It was patented by Connecticut architect Ithiel Town in 1820 and 1835 as Town's lattice truss. I found the interior to be very interesting and quite unique. Be sure to look at the close-ups in the photo gallery. The truss design was developed by Ithiel Town of Connecticut and consists of wooden beams "crisscrossed" to form a lattice. The bridge was one of few remaining Town truss bridges in Pennsylvania. The bridge is 100 feet (30 m) long and 15 feet 4 inches (4.67 m) wide and it spans the Marsh Creek. The bridge has horizontal clapboard siding, a sheet metal roof, and wide diagonal floor planks
Date:
Time: Duration of Investigation: Solar Activity: Moonphase: Temperature: Weather: Humidity: |
Equipment:
Two digital recorders emf detector ghost box samsung video camera |
History/ Background Information:
|
Results
Photos |
EVPSNo Evps at this locations |
VideosNo video evidence at this location |
Personal Experience
No personal experience at this location
There is a story containing a darker side to the Sachs Bridge as well. The story is of 3 men hung from the rafters there. Some research I have read tell of 3 Confederate soldiers caught as spies and hung, some claim that the three soldiers were deserters and hung and one claims that it was three men caught stealing in the area and hung. The only thing for sure is that these men were hung from the rafters of the bridge and left to die.