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There are nearly 800 covered bridges in the United States, many of them historical that have been around for over 100 years. These bridges are stuck in time and are examples of 19th-century engineering.

According to Wikipedia, covered bridges in the U.S. were constructed for 100 years dating from the late 1700s to the late 1800s. They were constructed with a timber-truss structure with a roof, decking, and siding to keep snow and rain away from the wood structure. Back in the day, wooden bridges that weren't covered only lasted about 10 years while covered bridges could last over 100 years.

In Maine, there are eight historical covered bridges. Some are still open to vehicular traffic and others only allow pedestrian traffic. The majority of them are found in Oxford County, many in rural areas, the oldest of which was originally built in 1840.

In 1959, the Maine legislature enacted a law to preserve Maine's covered bridges. There were ten at the time and it became the mission of the Maine Department of Transportation to begin to renovate those covered bridges with state money provided as part of the new preservation law.

The Maine Department of Transportation still does the repairs and renovations on eight remaining covered bridges so that we can keep these pieces of Maine history around for generations.

All of these covered bridges are accessible though some are in some very rural and remote areas. If you don't mind a drive or hike you can visit each and every one in this list that still exist.

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