Nonprofit restoring 165-year-old bridge
LEHIGHTON – A grass-roots effort to preserve a more than 165-year-old covered bridge is underway in Carbon County.
Friends of Beltzville State Park, a nonprofit group started two years ago to enhance the park outside Lehighton, took on the project to restore the bridge built by the Buck family in 1841, said John Dworsky, who is heading the project.
“We’re looking to restore it and keep beautiful for another 150 years,” he said.
The bridge carried horses and buggies across Pohopoco Creek in its day, and was moved to its present location inside the park when Beltzville Lake was created in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The bridge, owned by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, is located in Franklin Township but was originally in Towamensing Township, Dworsky said.
“When they drug it from the Pohopoco, they moved it over the township line,” he said.
The Friends group secured letters from the state and both townships allowing them to go ahead and refurbish the bridge, Dworsky said. They recently asked the Carbon County commissioners for a letter of support.
“I’m certain being the owner of a historical bridge ourselves, we know the importance of maintaining our history,” Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said.
Dworsky explained the group wants to make sure that they have everyone on board before they begin fundraising for the restoration.
“That is critical, because we don’t want to raise dollar one until we have everyone in line,” he said. “Otherwise, it would be pointless.”
The commissioners agreed to give the group a letter of support, but they also inquired about the cost of the project. An upcoming meeting with an engineer will shed light on the scope of the project, Dworsky said.
“We may have to take the entire bridge apart and replace it, and rebuild it. It depends on what will be more cost effective,” he said. “Some of it is old chestnut, which we can’t even legally replace. We would have to replace it with either oak or elm, or something else.”
Some of the main timbers are worm-eaten, but the bridge is still in good condition, Dworsky said. The group wants to step in and rehabilitate the bridge now before it gets to the point where it can’t be saved, he said.
Commissioner William O’Gurek suggested the group look to DCNR for funding for the preservation project, or gaming funds through the Local Share Account.
“If we can help you with that, we would facilitate that,” he said.
The group also wants to put a map at the environmental center at the park showing what the area looked like before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built Beltzville Dam, Dworsky said.
The map would show the covered bridge’s original location, which is now out in the middle of the lake, he said.
“There’s a stone bridge under the water which you can still see if you know where to go,” he said. “It lets people go out on the lake and see what it was like before.”
Friends groups started across the state in response to reduced funding for state parks, said Diane Szwajkowski, president of the group.
“Any money we raise stays within the park,” she said.
Since its inception, the group has organized cleanups around the lake and roadside, started a pollinator garden behind the environmental center, secured an environmental specialist for the park and hosted various events to bring people into the park, including a New Year’s Day hike that brought out 85 people, Szwajkowski said.
The group took on the bridge restoration because it is a piece of history as well the logo for the Friends of Beltzville State Park that can be found on their website, www.fobsp.org, and Facebook page, she said.