Canal Covered Bridge at Conowingo

The construction of the Tidewater Canal in the late 1830s required a covered bridge to be built over it leading to the Conowingo Covered Bridge that crossed the Susquehanna River. Lewis Wernwag built his 10-span bridge over the Susquehanna in 1820. The Tidewater Canal was built from 1836-1839.

The Tidewater Canal: Harford County's Contribution to "The Canal Era", a publication of The Harford County Historical Society provides information about the Covered Bridge over the Canal at Conowingo as well as one built over the canal at Rock Run:

Bridges were needed at various points along the length of the canal for access across the canal to the towpath or to areas where commercial development (such as fisheries, river bridges, and ferry landings) existed prior to the building of the canal. In Maryland the bridges which crossed the Susquehanna River at Conowingo and Rock Run had an additional span of covered bridge built across the canal. These bridges, however, did not provide any direct access to the towpath. (Both) of these bridges had stone abutments and were high enough to allow a minimum of fourteen feet of clearance for the canal boats.

Although the Conowingo Bridge was lost to the flood of 1846, the single span over the canal survived. The Canal Covered Bridge also survived the flood of 1865 that washed out the towpath. By the turn of the century the canal was basically abandoned and the bridge was likely either dismantled at that time or was lost to the flood of 1904 or the fire of 1907.

Canal Covered Bridge at Conowingo, about 1890. The tollhouse is left of the bridge. Photo courtesy of The Harford County Historical Society, Inc.