When you traverse a historic covered bridge, the barn-like entrance entices you; the dark interior envelopes you in calm; the wood under your car wheels creaks. You realize that a farmer built this structure from wood to ford a creek, stream, or river when horses did the heavy work.
Ohio has more than 100 covered bridges, an impressive chunk of the several hundred such structures that remain in the U.S. Nineteen of those are in Ashtabula County, the state’s “covered bridge capital,” in rural Northeastern Ohio. Some date to the mid-1800s. Others are newer, inspired by historic designs—including the country’s longest and shortest covered bridges.