The History of Packaging and Shipping

I love antique wooden boxes and crates. I’m not sure why they have such a fascination for me. Once, I had a lovely old box that we used as a prop in a Christmas play at church. I loaded everything on my husband’s truck to take back home after the play, and he headed toward my mother-in-law’s house to deliver borrowed props to her first. I was watching from the church parking lot when my crate fell off the truck and shattered in the middle of the highway. It was a total accident, but I was sad to lose the old box.

Vintage Armour Canned meat crate found in my husband's grandfather's old barn.
It's now on display in my den.

But even through my fascination, I can see why manufacturers, shippers, and merchants would prefer the lighter, more easily handled and recyclable cardboard boxes we have today. And, after you watch the video at the end of this post, you’ll realize that we’ve come a long way from gourds, leaves, and hollowed out logs!

The cardboard box was invented in 1817 in England. The box was a flimsy paperboard similar in design to today’s cereal boxes. Kellogg Cereals started using this type of box in the mid-1800s and popularized its use. This type of box would never do for shipping heavy cans or jars.

Enter the corrugated box. Corrugated (or pleated) paper was patented in England in 1856 and used as a liner for tall hats, but entrepreneurs soon realized the benefits of the stronger material for other uses. Single-sided corrugated boxboard was patented by Albert Jones of New York City and saw use as a shipping material as early as 1871.

Corrugated means “(of a material, surface, or structure) shaped into alternate ridges and grooves.” The ridges and grooves strengthen the box. There are three basic types of corrugated cardboard boxes/crates. Single, double, triple walled.

As a former purchasing manager, I can tell you that all corrugated boxes aren’t the same. More than once, my shipping department rejected boxes because they were inferior quality that wouldn’t hold up to the rigors of shipping. Or we received product in flimsy boxes. Both scenarios cause a major headaches. Most shipments up to 20 lbs or so can get by with a single walled corrugated box. Triple walled corrugated boxes can handle up to 300 lbs and are quite sturdy.

I realize that it costs less to produce and ship corrugated cardboard boxes all over the world, and that cardboard is easier to recycle, but that still doesn’t stop me from longing for the days when some little mercantile in the middle of nowhere received a shipment of wooden crates with all kinds of goodies inside. Although I seriously doubt those merchants were as enamored of all those adorable wooden crates as I am.

Here’s a fun little video regarding the history of packaging.

 

CBA Bestselling author PAM HILLMAN was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn't afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove an Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn't mind raking. Raking hay doesn't take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that's the kind of life every girl should dream of. www.pamhillman.com

Looking for another Pam Hillman novel to keep you entertained? Here are some of the best deals going right now! :)

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The Other Woman in the Race around the World

Elizabeth Bisland

By Marilyn Turk

You’ve probably read about Nellie Bly, the famous journalist who went around in the world in 72 days to beat the fictional Phileas Fogg of Jules Verne’s book, Around the World in Eighty Days.

What you might not know is that the trip was a race between Nelly Bly who worked for The World, the most widely-read newspaper of its time, and Elizabeth Bisland, the literary editor of The Cosmopolitan magazine.

Elizabeth was born on Fairfax Plantation in Louisiana in 1861. Life on the family plantation was difficult after the Civil War, so the family moved to Natchez, Louisiana when she was twelve years old.  She began writing as a teenager, sending poems to the New Orleans Times Democrat under the pen name of B.L.R. Dane. When her family and the paper discovered her identity, she was paid for her work, eventually moving to New Orleans to work for the paper.

Around 1889, she moved to New York City where she worked for a variety of newspapers and magazines. When the publisher of The Cosmopolitan read about Nellie Bly’s future trip around the world, he decided to make it a race and send his literary editor, Elizabeth Bisland, in the opposite direction to do the same, hoping she would beat Bly’s time. At first, she refused, because she did not want the attention, but finally she gave in. So on the same day, November 14, 1889, both women departed New York, but Bly went east and Bisland went west. 

The World excited its readers by posting sensational accounts of Bly’s journey while ignoring Bisland’s journey. At the same time, The Cosmopolitan’s coverage was less frequent, it being a monthly magazine.

Bisland was twenty-eight years old, tall and elegant, gracious and intelligent, and an avid reader of literary works. Although a beautiful woman, she once wrote, “After the period of sex-attraction has passed, women have no power in America.” She was a hard-working woman, often working eighteen hours a day, and was proud of the fact that she arrived in New York City with only fifty dollars but had earned thousands by her own writing.

Elizabeth Bisland wrote seven articles for The Cosmopolitan about her race around the world. In 1890 these articles were published by Harper & Brothers as a book entitled In Seven Stages: A Flying Trip Around the World. Near the end of the trip, cold, sleepless and hungry, Bisland hurried by train and ferry through France, England, Wales, and Ireland to catch the steamship that was her last chance to beat Bly, only to cross a storm-tossed North Atlantic.

In the end, Elizabeth Bisland succeeded in beating Phileas Fogg’s eighty-day mark, completing the trip in seventy-six days, which would have been the fastest trip ever made around the world, except that Nellie Bly had arrived four days earlier.

She arrived home—as she had feared—famous, amazed to discover people had placed wagers on who would win. She was even more amazed by the number of strangers who sent cards and messages, who simply wanted to see her, as if she were an exotic animal.

Unlike Nellie Bly, who upon her return to New York immediately set out on a forty-city lecture tour, Bisland avoided publicity. She gave no lectures, endorsed no products, and did not comment publicly on the trip. Instead, at the very height of her popularity, Bisland left the United States and sailed for Great Britain, where she lived the following year surrounded by London’s literary society.

When she returned to New York, she married corporate attorney Charles Wetmore, and together the two designed and built an estate on Long Island they named Applegarth. At Applegarth, she became a highly productive writer of several books and essays, writing until her death. In one of her final collections of essays, she wrote “Toward Sunset” in which she observed, “That old age may be agreeable to others and tolerable to itself, no other equipment is so necessary as a vigorous sense of humour.” But old age itself, she was quick to point out, “is not an amusing episode.”

Elizabeth Bisland died of pneumonia on January 6, 1929, at the age of sixty-seven. Coincidentally, she was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York, the same cemetery where Nelly Bly was buried, who also died of pneumonia in 1922.

Elizabeth Bisland in later years

Marilyn Turk’s roots are in the coastal South, raised in Louisiana, moved to Georgia, then retired to Florida. Calling herself a “literary archaeologist,” she loves to discover stories hidden in history. She is the author of two World War II novels, The Gilded Curse and Shadowed by a Spy, and the Coastal Lights Legacy series set in 1800s Florida—Rebel Light, Revealing Light, Redeeming Light, and Rekindled Light—featuring lighthouse settings. Marilyn’s novella, The Wrong Survivor, is in the Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides collection. She also writes for the Daily Guideposts Devotions book.

Interesting Facts About Stagecoaches - Plus Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Stagecoach to Liberty, third book in the Montana Gold western historical romance series, I’m giving away to two winners their choice of a digital copy of either Hills of Nevermore (Montana Gold 1) or Cheyenne Sunrise (Montana Gold 3). Comment before midnight, Pacific Time, January 25th on the question in this post for a chance to win. Leave your email address to be eligible. I'll contact the winner privately by January 27th. 

Interesting Facts About Stagecoaches 

There's something about a stagecoach that brings out the romantic in all of us. Picture a stagecoach pulled by a team of frothing horses and you summon the very essence of the Wild West. You imagine yourself settling back against the leather upholstery with a view of the western plains. You sigh. Romance and adventure await! Hold your horses. So do nausea and exhaustion. 

Being tossed about a coach with little or no shock absorbers took a toll on the passengers. Despite the galmourous image, stagecoach travel was pretty rough. Let's take a look at what else we might not know about stagecoaches.

Origin

The stagecoach originated in Great Britain during the 1600’s as one of the earliest modes of public transportation.

Name

Stagecoaches traveled from stop to stop so drivers could swap tired horses for fresh ones and allow passengers to purchase food and drink. The characteristic travel in stages gave rise to the term ‘stagecoach,’ or ‘stage’ for short.

Stage Stops

Passengers could alight for about 10 minutes at stage stops to stretch their legs, purchase food and drink, and attend to other necessary matters. These stops were spaced between 10 and 30 miles apart.

Speed

A stagecoach covered, on average, 5-8 miles in an hour. Rate of travel depended on condition of the road and the terrain.

Windows

The risk of breakage was too great, so stagecoach windows had no panes. Instead, thick leather curtains could be unrolled and attached at the bottom over window openings to shield passengers from inclement weather, dust, or mud.

Sleep

Exhaustion helped people fall asleep while riding in the coach, however staying asleep could be a problem due to the jostling from rough roads. Sometimes stagecoaches ran through the night. If they stopped at a roadhouse, they usually had to wake early to continue the journey.

Mail

Starting in 1785, Congress passed legislation to allow stagecoaches to carry mail. America relied on stagecoaches to transport mail through the 1840’s. Postal delivery was an important function for stagecoach lines, and often passengers shared coach space with mail bags.

A First-Hand Account

In Roughing It, Mark Twain’s autobiographical account, he describes traveling with the mail. "Whenever the stage stopped to change horses, we would wake up, and try to recollect where we were - and succeed - and in a minute or two the stage would be off again, and we likewise. We began to get into country, now, threaded here and there with little streams. These had high, steep banks on each side, and every time we flew down one bank and scrambled up the other, our party inside got mixed sowewhat. First we would all lie down in a pile at the forward end of the stage, nearly in a sitting posture, and in a second we would shoot to the other end and stand on our heads. And we would sprawl and kick, too, and ward off ends and corners of mail-bags that came lumbering over us and about us; and as the dust rose from the tumult, we would all sneeze in chorus, and the majority of us would grumble, and probably say some hasty thing, like: 'Take your elbow out of my ribs! Can't you quit crowding?'” 

Giveaway Question

Have you ever had a bad travel experience that is funny in hindsight?

Winner chooses between the following books from the Montana Gold series
Hills of Nevermore: Can a young widow hide her secret shame from the Irish circuit preacher bent on helping her survive?

Cheyenne Sunrise: A young Irish widow has no choice but to trust her half-Cheyenne guide with her life, but can she trust him with her heart?   

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt's unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and whimsy creates breathtaking fictional worlds for readers. Known for her vivid writing, this multi-faceted author writes in the western historical romance, medieval epic fantasy, and romantic suspense genres.

Janalyn is represented by Wordserve Literary Agency. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA. When she's not writing, she loves to garden and explore the great outdoors with her family.

About Stagecoach to Liberty

Can a desperate young woman trust the handsome Irish stranger who wants to free her from her captors?

Elsa Meier, a young Hessian woman newly in America, falls into the hands of soul merchants intent on forcing her into prostitution.

The last thing that Connor Walsh, an Irishman returning to his ranch after a bout of amnesia, wants is trouble, but he suspects that Elsa isn't wholeheartedly traveling with her companions.

Based on actual historical events during a time of unrest in America, Stagecoach to Liberty explores faith, love, and courage in the wild west.

Purchase Stagecoach to Liberty

Learn more about the Montana Gold series.

What Was Stagecoach Travel Like?

Painting by Wilhelm von Deitz (1839-1907: Mail coach journey: oil on canvas

The stagecoach driver grasps your hand and helps you onboard. You blink in the sudden dimness. The day is bright, but leather curtains conceal the window openings. Light slants in through the door and twin rectangles beside it. None of the windows contains glass to keep out the dust or weather. The openings will, hopefully, let out odors from the unwashed passengers already aboard the coach. These blink owlishly at you and your brother, the male relative escorting you on this journey.

You glance at your brother. Most of the seats are occupied or show signs of occupancy – satchels and shawls left to mark the spots of the passengers waiting to board again behind you.

A man holding a can tips his bowler hat to you but addresses your brother. “May I offer my seat for the lady?”

“Thank you,” your brother replies and guides you forward, causing you to stub your toe against one of the many mailbags strewing the floor. A bonneted woman smiles her approval at the man and shifts closer to a young girl of perhaps twelve who greatly resembles her. You thank the woman for allowing you to sit beside the window, then settle against the button-tufted leather upholstery faced in the direction of travel. The man and your brother sit across from you in the backless middle seat. The woman breaks off a piece of bread and passes it to the man, who is no doubt her husband. You know better than to suggest they sit together, not when stagecoach etiquette calls for gentlemen to yield the best seats to the gentler sex.

After the rest of the passengers take their places, the driver calls out and a whip cracks. The stagecoach lurches forward. Hooves clop, boards rattle, and chains clank in steady rhythm. You sigh and settle against the backrest. It’s too noisy for conversation. A mile or more goes by, and the constant vibration wears on you. The driver shouts a command to the horses, the stagecoach slows but then jolts into a dip. Your brother gives you a questioning lift of his brows, and you return a smile.

The stage bumps along down a road so rough that you stop smiling. One particularly nasty bump unseats your brother and the other men on the middle seat. They sprawl in a tangle of arms and legs amid the mailbags. You cry out, but your brother climbs back onto the seat with a grin. “Hold on!” he warns.

You are already clutching the leather strap hanging beside the window with a death grip, but you nod reassuringly.

The stagecoach slows to a stop, and the driver shouts the name of the waystation. The door opens, and sunlight makes you blink. You alight and enter a low-slung building with a dirt floor that smells of coffee.

Your brother seats you at a scarred oak table and brings you a steaming cup. “Drink fast. We board again in ten minutes.”

“What? No longer?” You frown, taken by regret. You’ve barely begun this journey but already wish it over.

“We’ll change the horses every ten miles or so. We should get out each time and walk about. Those who do fare better, I hear.”

The idea doesn’t appeal with weariness setting in, but you agree.

Although the day is fair, the temperature is chilly, and you are grateful for the coffee, strong though it may be. Other passengers bend over bowls of stew or purchase food to carry away with them.

Time passes far too quickly, and soon you climb into the coach again. The day passes in a series of stops broken by long stretches with dust filtering in through the windows beside the door. Tossed about by the swaying and bumps, you surrender to exhaustion. The constant vibration feels like someone shaking you awake, however.

You despair of ever sleeping again.

Note from Author Janalyn Voigt 

I decided to celebrate the release of my western romance novel, Stagecoach to Liberty, by entertaining you with a vicarious journey. Embedded in the story are details about stagecoach travel, which was challenging at best, untenable at worst. Louis McLane, a manager employed by Wells, Fargo and Company, described stagecoach travel in an 1865 letter to his wife. "I thought staging looked very well to the lithographer, but was the devil in reality."

Mark Twain gave a humorous account in Roughing It, his autobiographical tale, that confirmed Mr. McLane’s analysis. "Every time we avalanched from one end of the stage to the other, the Unabridged Dictionary would come too; and every time it came it damaged somebody. One trip it 'barked' the Secretary's elbow; the next trip it hurt me in the stomach, and the third it tilted Bemis's nose up till he could look down his nostrils - he said. The pistols and coin soon settled to the bottom, but the pipes, pipe-stems, tobacco, and canteens clattered and floundered after the Dictionary every time it made an assault on us, and aided and abetted the book by spilling tobacco in our eyes, and water down our backs."

About Janalyn Voigt 

Janalyn Voigt's unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and whimsy creates breathtaking fictional worlds for readers. Known for her vivid writing, this multi-faceted author writes in the western historical romance, medieval epic fantasy, and romantic suspense genres. 

Janalyn is represented by Wordserve Literary Agency. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA. When she's not writing, she loves to garden and explore the great outdoors with her family.

About Stagecoach to Liberty

Can a desperate young woman trust the handsome Irish stranger who wants to free her from her captors?
Elsa Meier, a young Hessian woman newly in America, falls into the hands of soul merchants intent on forcing her into prostitution.

The last thing that Connor Walsh, an Irishman returning to his ranch after a bout of amnesia, wants is trouble, but he suspects that Elsa isn't wholeheartedly traveling with her companions.

Based on actual historical events during a time of unrest in America, Stagecoach to Liberty explores faith, love, and courage in the wild west.

Purchase Stagecoach to Liberty

Learn more about the Montana Gold series.

From Washouts to Pirates, Travel in 14th-Century England

This post is brought to you by Janalyn Voigt.

A portion of the Roman Road, now a bridle path, near Slinfold, photo by Andy Potter; [CC BY-SA 2.0]

Travel in 14th-Century England depended on status and wealth. Most people were villiens, laborers who farmed land they rented from a lord. Travel for them consisted of going by foot to the nearest market town, where they could sell wares and purchase goods. Almost all towns and villages were less than 15 miles apart, which made an easy walking distance with a night’s lodging possible. People walked more in those days and had strong legs, a fact documented by forensic examination of human skeletons from that era.

Those riding on the back of horse, mules, or donkeys could travel on to the next town before needing to stop. Wagons and carriages weren’t a common means of transportation, even for the nobility. Wheeled carts were useful for short trips, but the poor roads limited their value for longer journeys.

Inns weren’t plentiful and didn’t take everyone. The cost of a bed in an inn wasn’t practical for villiens, who had to be resourceful. They could hope to spend the night in a friend’s home. Farms and cottages might offer hospitality. Sleeping conditions could be rough. Rather than finding a bed for the night, a villien would be thankful to sleep on a pallet in the corner of a kitchen. Churches maintained hostels where the poor could stay.

People didn’t usually employ maps, which meant that finding your way on a land journey called for knowledge of the route or hiring a guide. Roads were usually muddy tracks forged from need and frequent use. Those whose course took them along one of the few remaining Roman roads did a little better. Travelers often had to ford streams and rivers. Bridges might be in poor shape, missing, or washed out altogether.

Those travelling the same direction frequently banded together for safety’s sake. Dangers lurked in the form of wolves, boars, or robbers. Most travelers carried weapons for self-defense.

Sometimes people transported goods by rivers, thus avoiding the difficulties of land travel. They paid a toll for this privilege.

Sea voyages were unreliable, cramped, and filthy. Ships carried passengers into other kinds of danger. A storm might drive the vessel off course or send it, and everyone aboard, to the bottom of the sea. Pirates were a known threat.

Travel in the Middle Ages was a challenging business for the average person. It presented inconveniences and dangers and could be quite an adventure.

About Janalyn Voigt

Escape into creative worlds of fiction with Janalyn Voigt. Her unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and fantasy creates worlds of beauty and danger for readers. Tales of Faeraven, her medieval epic fantasy series beginning with DawnSinger, carries the reader into a land only imagined in dreams. Her western historical romance novels have received acclaim from Library journal and Romantic Times. 

Janalyn is represented by Wordserve Literary. Her memberships include ACFW and NCWA. When she's not writing, Janalyn loves to discover worlds of adventure in the great outdoors.

DawnSinger (Tales of Faeraven, book 1)

The High Queen is dying… At the royal summons, Shae mounts a wingabeast and soars through the air to the high hold of Faeraven, where all is not as it seems. Visions warn her of danger, and a dark soul touches hers in the night. When she encounters an attractive but disturbing musician, her wayward heart awakens.

But then there is Kai, a guardian of Faeraven and of Shae. Secrets bind him to her, and her safety lies at the center of every decision he makes. On a desperate journey fraught with peril and the unknown, they battle warlike garns, waevens, ferocious raptors, and the wraiths of their own regrets. Yet, they must endure the campaign long enough to release the DawnKing—and the salvation he offers—into a divided land. To prevail, each must learn that sometimes victory comes only through surrender. 

Learn More.

Amelia's Terrarium

In this, my third post and final post on glass conservatories of the nineteenth century, I'm featuring the smallest one of all, the Wardian case, named after Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868) of London. As the inventor of a glass-enclosed growing chamber, one would think Dr. Ward was a botanist looking for a way of regulating growing conditions but it wasn't so. Dr. Ward was simply a physician with a passion for botany who noticed something growing in a specimen jar.

English botanists had been gathering exotic species of plant material and shipping them back to England since the end of the 16th century, but something like 9 out of every 10 living plants died enroute due to the salty air and lack of sun, fresh water, and proper care. The most viable way was relegated to transporting seeds, corms, and rhizomes. 

Pre-nineteenth Century Plant Transportation Methods, The Natural Life of the Tea-Tree, 1799

Around 1829, Dr. Ward noticed the germination of a fern spore and a species of grass growing in a sealed glass bottle which held one of his moth cocoons. Not realizing what he'd discovered, Ward observed the bottle, but otherwise left it undisturbed for four years. During that time, the grass bloomed once. It wasn't until the seal rusted allowing bad air into the bottle that the plants died. 

Air pollution was a major hazard of England's industrialized cities at the time. Much of what has been attributed to the infamous London fog wasn't a fog but sooty air pollution from the coke and coal used to heat homes, businesses and industries. Its effect was devastating on anything that required oxygen to survive.

A London fog drawn by Duncan. Page 8, The Illustrated London News, Volume 10, January to June 1847. Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Suspecting that plants could live in a closed environment if their needs were met, he instructed a carpenter to build a tightly fitted glazed wooden case and then added ferns inside.

The ferns thrived.

Would plants survive a sea voyage in such a case? Unlike before, the Wardian case could be brought onto the deck and into the light without worry of salt spray on their leaves. 
In 1833, Dr. Ward tested his theory when he sent a Wardian case of British ferns and grasses to Sydney, Australia. The voyage took several months, yet the plants arrived in good condition. With the Wardian case restocked with native species of Australia, the ship returned and even after a long, stormy voyage arrived with intact healthy plants. 

After more successful voyages, the Wardian case became indispensable to the transportation of plant specimens and was instrumental in the establishment of many new industries around the world, such as tea plantations, rubber plantations, and other agricultural goods.

According to the BBC article, Wardian Case, "There is no park in London without a plant that travelled in Dr. Ward's Case."

The Wardian Case also had a dramatic effect on Victorian furnishings as it soon became a common feature of stylish drawing rooms on both sides of the Atlantic.

With the Victorian penchant for the stately ornate, the simplicity of that first glazed wooden Wardian case soon grew into large iron and glass structures, many of which last to this day.

Although a quick search on Pinterest will show many of these creations in color photographs, for authenticity I've kept the images shown here to those found in 19th century books. 

So why did I title this post, Amelia's Terrarium, if I'm talking about Wardian Cases? Because around 1885-1890, society began to use the term, terrarium, when talking about a glass structure to house plants and/or land animals, and an aquarium to showcase sea creatures. From then on, Wardian Cases became known as terrariums.

In my novella, Sweet Love Grows, my heroine, Amelia Cord, is being evicted from her estate and must leave behind  everything she holds dear, including her favorite plants in the conservatory.

However, she is given the chance to take a few plants if they can fit in a small terrarium, such as the one pictured on the right. If I'd called it a Wardian Case, my readers wouldn't have a clear image of what I was trying to portray, especially since googling Wardian brings up everything Edwardian. Hence, I used the new word, terrarium. 

My post on what I imagined Amelia's conservatory would look like, as well as other conservatories, can be found through the following links:
- Botanical Conservatories
- White House Conservatory: Then and Now

More images are featured on my Pinterest boards:
- Conservatory and Greenhouse
- Wardian Case Terrarium Victorian

Years ago, I bought a small foot-long terrarium something like in the last image above. At the time I didn't realize how to use it properly thus it was always too wet and mossy inside. I believe it's still packed away after our many moves and one of these days I'm going to dig it out and put it on display, with or without plants as a reminder of the trials my heroine Amelia went through before she found true love. 

What about you? Have you tried growing plants in an indoor container like a terrarium? What about using one for other land creatures like reptiles? I'd love to have you share your experience one way or the other. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are woven under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details. Her Christian faith is reflected in her stories of forgiveness and redemption as her characters struggle to find their way to that place we call home. Anita loves to correspond with her readers through any of the social media links found at www.anitamaedraper.com.

Readers can enrich their reading experience by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories at www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper.

Covered Bridges ~ Spans to the Past

by Ramona K. Cecil

Few images are more bucolically iconic than the humble covered bridge. A favorite subject for the artist’s canvas, photographer’s camera, and writer’s page, these historic wooden structures span more than rippling streams. They are literal spans to America’s past.

For me, growing up in rural Indiana, covered bridges were a common fixture to which, I gave scant thought. Only when they began to decay and disappear did I begin to look upon the remaining ones with a sentimental eye.

Covered bridges date back hundreds of years and are found all over the world, primarily in the continents of Asia, Europe, and America. The main reason for covering a bridge was to prolong the life of the structure by protecting it from the weather and subsequent rot. The life of a covered bridge can be three times that of an uncovered span. Also, enclosing a bridge and covering it prevented skittishness in horses and other animals when crossing a moving stream, causing the animal to feel it was entering a barn. Another advantage of covering a bridge was to prevent the bridge’s floor planks from becoming slippery in the rain and snow. Besides these obvious advantages, covered bridge provide other benefits like shelter during a sudden storm. As a romance novelist, I like that covered bridges are often called “Kissing Bridges” as they provide a secluded place for courting couples to share a secret kiss. 

Kissing Bridge - Ontario, Canada

World's Longest Covered Bridge: Canada

Below are examples of covered bridges from around the world.


Oldest covered bridge in Europe
Lucerne, Switzerland built in 1333



Xijin Bridge, China


Saya Bridge, Kotohira, Japan



Covered bridge, Thuringia, Germany

At one time, over 12,000 covered bridges existed in the United States. Now only a fraction are left. East Swanzey, New Hampshire claims the site of the oldest covered bridge in America. Their Carlton bridge, built in 1869 that spans the Ashuelot River there was preceded by an earlier covered bridge built in 1789. 

Carlton Bridge, East Swanzey, New Hampshire

Bridges are identified by their designs. Here are some of the more common bridge designs.

Bell Ford Covered Bridge, Jackson County, Indiana

The covered bridge I remember best was the Bell Ford covered bridge in my county of Jackson in southern Indiana. Built in 1869, the bridge spanned the East Fork of the White River. Growing up, I lived on the west side of the river. The nearest town was east of the river, so every time we went to “town,” we crossed the Bell Ford bridge. 

As an interesting aside, remember the “kissing bridge” reference earlier? The small rural community on the west side of the Bell Ford span of White River is named Cortland, supposedly a misspelling of “courtland” because it was said that courting couples from the nearby town frequented the place.

Interior of the Bell Ford Covered Bridge

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the Bell Ford bridge’s combination Post truss construction was somewhat unique. Built when bridge construction was evolving from wood to iron and steel, the Post truss combination, invented by Simeon S. Post, utilized both materials. A combination of the Pratt and Warren truss designs, every tinsel web in the trusses were made with iron and every compression member made of wood. In 2005, the Bell Ford bridge was listed in the Indiana National and State Register of the Department of Natural Resources as “the best representation of the American engineering ‘combination’ bridge form.” Who knew? All those times I traversed the shaded interior of the covered bridge and marveled at the web of steel cables that criss-crossed the wooden planks, I had no idea of their uniqueness. Built in two sections, the bridge stood for a century until February of 1999 when a strong windstorm took down the western section. The eastern section stood another seven years until it collapsed in January of 2006. Two years later the remains of the bridge were sold to a historical interest group who built a  replica of the bridge at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana.

While the Bell Ford bridge no longer spans the East Fork of the White River, Indiana still boasts a fair number of covered bridges, most notably in Parke County, located in the west central part of the state. Each October, Parke County celebrates their thirty-one covered bridges with a Covered Bridge Festival, proclaiming themselves the “Covered Bridge Capital of the World.”

Do you have a favorite covered bridge or memory of one? I’d love to hear about it.

Ramona K. Cecil is a poet and award-winning author of historical fiction for the Christian market. A proud Hoosier, she often sets her stories in her home state of Indiana.

Check out her website at www.ramonakcecil.com