Spanning Phelps Creek, Windsor Township. is the Wiswell Road Covered Bridge, formally called the Warner Hollow Covered Bridge. Built in 1867, it is unique due to it’s height above the creek bed is 34 feet and it is the only Ashtabula County covered bridge designated as a national historic site.
Spanning Phelps Creek, Windsor Township. is the Wiswell Road Covered Bridge, formally called the Warner Hollow Covered Bridge. Built in 1867, it is unique due to it’s height above the creek bed is 34 feet and it is the only Ashtabula County covered bridge designated as a national historic site.
The new renovation was to build a new concrete pier next to the existing south field stone pier and to cap the existing abutments with concrete. All the concrete work will be veneered with field stone to give the Wiswell it’s original aesthetic appearance. Phase One costs were $100,000.00.
The second part of the renovation is raising the bridge approximately 4 feet off the original surface, replacing of the rotted timbers, replacing the siding with the addition of the new window design and a new shingle roof. Phase Two costs were $150,000.00.
All moneys for this renovation were raised by the county. Construction was done by the Ashtabula Construction Company of Jefferson, Ohio.
Three types of abutments and supports have been used under the bridge, the original being carefully laid field stones. When the nearby Windsor Stone Quarries were flourishing, huge pieces of sandstone were added to strengthen the abutments. In more recent years concrete was added.
While taking my completion photographs of this renovated covered bridge, to my surprise a caravan of antique 1930’s automobiles came rumbling through the covered bridge.
The covered bridge stands in a center of Ashtabula County history, with Camp Whitewood being on a site of old Indian fortifications to the south, and the historic Windsor Quarries, Skinner’s Mill, and Christ Church Episcopal Museum to the north.
The Windsor Historical Society watches over these sites. The Ohio Historical Society lists the Wiswell Covered Bridge as number 35-04-25.
Directions: Windsor Township. From Windsor Mills go SE on State Route 322 and south at Wiswell Road.
