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Old Hagerstown Road Covered Bridge

COUNTY WORLD GUIDE # CROSSES TRUSS SPANS LENGTH BUILT GONE
Washington MD-21-04x Conococheague Creek Unk Unk Unk Unk Unk
Unfortunately, we now believe Old Hagerstown Road Covered Bridge may never have existed. The photo described and shown below is not Old Hagerstown Road Bridge. It was submitted by a member of the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges in 1980 and was used for their cover photo on Covered Bridge Topics, the Society's signature magazine. The picture is actually of Sample's Bridge (PA-21-28) in Cumberland County, PA, just east of Hogestown, PA, not Hagerstown, MD. Both Hagerstown, MD and Hogestown, PA are located along US Route 11. Sample's Bridge near Hogestown was over Conodoguinet Creek and Old Hagerstown Bridge was across Conococheague Creek. All of these factors led to confusion about the bridge. Furthermore, the description of the bridge in Topics as 174.5 feet, built in 1860 of Burr truss matches the description of Sample's Bridge.
We have located the book mentioned below titled Old Bridges of Franklin County by Frederick Fleming Unger, published in 1941. The photo shown for Old Hagerstown Road Bridge is a long 5-span stone arch bridge, not a covered bridge. More confusion may have existed about this bridge because the photo of Martin's Mill Bridge is on the flip side of the page that talks about Old Hagerstown Road Bridge. Martin's Mill Bridge has a stepped portal similar to Sample's Bridge. The description of Old Hagerstown Bridge does not describe the bridge, just the location, so perhaps the reader thought the Martin's Mill Bridge photo was Old Hagerstown Road Bridge.
We are thankful to Todd Clark and Joseph Conwill for their assistance with clarification about the photo originally shown as Old Hagerstown Road Bridge. This posting will be removed in due time.
Below is the original posting we wrote for Old Hagerstown Road Bridge with a change made to the photo caption.
Old Hagerstown Road Covered Bridge was located north of Hagerstown, close to the Maryland and Pennsylvania border.
A caption appears below a picture of Old Hagerstown Road Bridge in a book about covered bridges in Franklin County, Pennsylvania:
Old Hagerstown Road bridge between Welsh Run and Cearfoss Cross Roads over the Conococheague Creek. Although not within the boundary of Franklin County, this bridge is included in this book as many persons living in the County are familiar with it just over the line in Washington County, Maryland.
The photo shown below is from the cover of Covered Bridge Topics, published by the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges in 1980. We believe it is the same photo published in the book about Franklin County bridges.
Old Hagerstown Road Covered Bridge
This photo shown in Covered Bridge Topics magazine in 1980 was thought to be Old Hagerstown Road Bridge near Hagerstown, MD, but it turns out to be Sample's Bridge near Hogestown, in Cumberland County, PA.

UPDATED: 02-27-2015 for information about the photo shown incorrectly as Old Hagerstown Bridge. It is actually Sample's Bridge near Hogestown, PA. We no longer believe a covered bridge existed at this location.


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