Zooks Mill Covered Bridge 38-36-14 Lancaster County Pa

Zooks or Wengers Mill, Rose Hill,
or Log Cabin Covered Bridge
WGCB 38-36-14
Lancaster County Pa

Zooks Mill Covered Bridge 38-36-14 Lancaster County Pa

Then & Now

Photo to the right courtesy
of Todd Clark
&
Covered Spans Of
Yesteryear

Zooks Mill, AKA Wengers Mill, Rose Hill, and Log
Cabin Covered Bridge, crosses the Cocalico creek
between Warwick & West Earl townships SW of
Brownstown in Lancaster County Pa. It is a 7 panel
Burr arch, 89' long with a clear span of 76 feet,
roadway width of 14', and a clearance of 11' 6". It
was built in 1849 By Henry Zook. There were two
mills nearby the bridge, one still stands on the West
Earl side jus upstream from the bridge, the other
was on the Warwick side of the creek on the west
side of Log Cabin Rd about 100' downstream from
the bridge. It was a 3 or 4 story stone building that
sat right against the road. This made for a very
sharp corner, and I remember sometimes the school
bus needed 2 tries to get around it. The mill was
eventually torn down and now the road crosses the
SW corner of where the mill sat. The bridge is in
excellent condition having been recently renovated,
and is open to traffic.

This is my bridge, first carved my name in it in 1966.
My childhood home was along Newport Rd one mile
east of Rothsville, and this bridge was an easy bike
ride for all the kids in the area. Naturaly it became
our playground. There was fishing, swimming, a
bridge to climb in, meadows to play in, it was our
favorite place to ride bikes to. I have many fond
memories of the bridge and the times spent there. I
remember when hurricane Agnes came through in 72,
the water was halfway up the inside, and a huge
buttonwood tree had plowed into the middle of it.
The impact broke the bottom cord of the upstream
truss, the west ends of both arches, and pushed the
whole bridge almost off it's abutments. Repairs were
made to the arches using timbers salvaged from
another bridge, they are slightly larger than the rest
of the arch timbers. They also replaced the
horizontal clap board siding with vertical board and
batten, giving the bridge a distinctly different look
than it had before.

For this reason I have made two portraits,

And one as the bridge looked in September
2006, which is when I visited it to gather info
for the portraits.

One as I knew it as a
child.

Failing to pass a routine inspection in 2008, the
bridge was closed to traffic, and a major overhaul
was begun. The bridge was entirely dismantled,
inspected, new parts fashioned where needed, and
put back together. It was officially reopened in
November 2009. Unfortunately, I have not been
back to visit it since, but I plan to soon. I have
heard the county did a wonderful job at the
restoration, but I'll withold judgement on that til I
see if my name is still where I carved it in 66. ;-)

I revisited this bridge in December 2010, and
indeed the county has done a great job with the
restoration. As with all covered bridge
modernizations, there has been changes. Gone is
the slight rise in the center of the bridge as well as
the outward cant of the king posts. Also, most of
the mortise & tenon joinery has been replaced with
steel plate & bolts. These changes are
understandably necessary to carry modern traffic
loads, and do not detract from the overall beauty of
the bridge. I will eventually make a third portrait to
represent the bridge as it looks today.

And my initials are where I carved em in 66 ;-)

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