The Ponn or Humpback Covered Bridge # 35-82-05, and is also known as the Geer Mill Bridge after a local mill was built and completed 23 December 1874. Martin E McGrath and Lyman Wells were the builders of this bridge and the original cost was $1.898.00 plus $30.25 for extra stone work, a total of $1,928.25.
The truss has three spans, the center and longest span has a single huge Burr arch encased in a double multiple kingpost truss. One end span has a double queenpost truss and the other end span has a double multiple kingpost structure also know as a Whipple truss. The entire bridge exhibits the arched design. The Bridge rests on cut stone abutments and on two stone piers located almost at quarter points. This covered bridges unique design is thought to have increased the structural soundness of the bridge and to have given greater clearance to flood waters.
The bridge spans Big Raccoon Creek and is 174 feet long by 14 feet wide. Big Raccoon Creek is a major drainage channel for the area. The creek has a 170 foot bed width at the bridge site.
This covered bridge is a one of a kind in the state of Ohio and is one of the best examples of a humpback bridge left in the United States. Listed on the National Register of Historic Place in 1973. Access to the creek is fairly easy and the view of the backbone of the bridge looming over the creek is spectacular. In 1997, the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic and another bridge has been built just to the west of the original bridge. The year 2000, is Vinton County’s sesquicentennial.
Directions: Wilkesville Township. From Wilkesville, SR 124 west, three miles, left on T4, three miles
