Loys Station Bridge

The Loys Station Covered Bridge is wood covered bridge in Thurmont, Maryland. Like its nearby (and I like to imagine) sister bridge, the Roddy Road Covered Bridge, the Loys Station Covered Bridge is a king post wood covered bridge which was also a subject of an “incident” with a large truck, leading to a rehabilitation of the bridge.

It was built in 1848, an approximate two-to-twelve years prior to the Roddy Road Covered Bridge (circa 1850-1860). Originally it spanned ninety feet over Owens Creek, although a concrete support pier and steel reinforcement beams to the wood deck were later added. Like many of the nearby bridges – the Roddy Road Covered Bridge and the Bullfrog Road Bridge – it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It occurred to me that there was likely a statewide push to designate these structures around that time which lead me to wonder if they were at risk for demolition in the late 1970s. Something to research later (and likely consequently fall down a rabbit hole)…

An arsonist attempted to destroy the bridge in 1991, via lighting a large truck on fire and driving it onto the Loys Station Covered Bridge. A preservation effort was employed and raised the $300,000 necessary to fix the bridge. In addition to the monetary costs, Loys Station Bridge also required three years of work to reconstruct.