A national treasure gone up in flames! Why? Why? Why?
The Cornwall-Salisbury Covered Bridge connected the towns for people to travel to work for many years. It also made it lot easier for a lot of farmers in the surrounding areas to work and made their fields of crops more accessible for them to tend.
The bridge was built in 1865 when Abe Lincoln was our 16th president of the U.S.; a great piece of history cannot be denied.
I would like to mention that my father, Bill Rouse, and also my brother Charlie in the years 1944 and 1945 would get up at 4 a.m. and go through the covered bridge from East Shoreham in a Model B Ford, stop for a half hour or so and take a short nap on the other side of the bridge.
There were gravel and dirt roads back then to travel to Palmer’s Dairy in East Middlebury. We would drive the milk truck to Middlebury to deliver the milk to Middlebury College to the fraternity houses. We’d also deliver to some of the other streets and to Hockwood’s restaurant and to some of the grocery stores until 8 a.m., then go on to high school.
I want to mention that years down the road, after I got married to my wife and went to work at the A&P Tea Co., we had neighbors that made it their priority to visit and travel on weekends in Vermont to see the historical covered bridges. In the spring, summertime, and especially in the fall, they would travel to see the vibrant colors and take photos of the covered bridges.
I hope someone knows what happened to the bridge. It’s so disheartening to see that happen to a natural piece of history. I think of all the many initials that have been carved on both ends of the bridge in all these years.
Sanford Rouse
Brandon