Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
This podcast is the companion to Covered Bridges of New Hampshire by Kim Varney Chandler, the most comprehensive history of New Hampshire’s covered bridges in print. New Hampshire is home to more than 60 authentic covered bridges, 46 of them over a century old. They remain today because a dedicated community recognized their significance and chose to preserve them. On this podcast, Kim speaks with the people connected to these bridges in a variety of ways—engineers, historians, preservationists, town officials, authors, photographers, and community advocates. Together, they explore preservation efforts, restoration projects, community identity, tourism, threats, stewardship, and the evolving role these structures play across the Granite State. Whether you are deeply familiar with covered bridges or simply curious about the stories they carry, this podcast offers thoughtful discussion on all things related to covered bridges in New Hampshire. Recipient of the 2023 Second Place Award for Best Audio Podcast from the New Hampshire Press Association.
Episodes
Kim talks with Donna Crane of the Wilton Heritage Commission and Kermit Williams, Chair of the Wilton Selectboard. Donna and Kermit discuss the history and significance of the Old Russell Hill Road Bridge and the community’s efforts to preserve this distinctive Wilton landmark.
Links from the conversation
Photos of the Old Russell Hill Road Bridge
Kim speaks with Will Truax, timber framer, bridgewright, and preservation carpenter. Will discusses his decades of work in timber restoration, his involvement with the Timber Framers Guild, and the Guild’s 2011 covered bridge project in Chester.
Links from the conversation
Photos of the Wason Pond Bridge
Links for Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Kim talks with Mike Kowalczyk, founder and president of the Monadnock Region Rail Trail Collaborative. Mike discusses the rail trail system of Southwestern New Hampshire and why preserving and completing this historic trail network remains vital to the Monadnock Region.
Links from the conversation
Monadnock Rail Trail Collaborative
Trail Link
Greater Monadnock Collaborative
Links for Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
C...
Kim speaks with Rick Kfoury, President of the Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society. Rick shares insight into New Hampshire’s remaining covered railroad bridges, the influence of the Boston and Maine Railroad, and the historical context behind these rare surviving structures.
Links from the conversation
Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society
Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society - YouTube Channel
The Covered Bridges of New Hampshire Podcast is back with new stories from across the Granite State. Season 2 drops June 2, 2026!
Recipient of the 2023 Second Place Award for Best Audio Podcast from the New Hampshire Press Association, the series returns with fresh conversations featuring historians, photographers, preservationists, and community advocates who share a passion for covered bridges and New Hampshire history.
Whether you...
Kim talks with Alan Rumrill, Executive Director of the Historical Society of Cheshire County. Alan shares the rich history of the lost bridges of the Monadnock area and why the remaining covered bridges are valued by the community.
Links from the conversation
Historical Society of Cheshire County
Links for Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Kim talks with Warner historian Rebecca Courser about the namesake of the Dalton Bridge. Rebecca shares with us a history of the town of Warner, the Dalton family, and just who exactly the covered bridge was named after.
Links from the conversation
Warner Historical Society
Links for Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Photos of the Dalton Bridge
Kim talks with lifelong Swanzey resident Lee Dunham about the namesake of the Thompson covered bridge. Lee walks us through the exciting life of actor and playwright Denman Thompson and his production, The Old Homestead; and how integral the play has been to the town of Swanzey for over a hundred years.
Links from the conversation
The Old Homestead
2016 Article in the Keene Sentinel
Denman Thompson
Kim talks with two women who live on either side of the Columbia Bridge in northern New Hampshire. Columbia, New Hampshire, resident Stacey Campbell and Lemington, Vermont, resident Sharon Ellingwood White, share how the location of the Columbia Bridge has connected their two communities across the Connecticut River for almost two hundred years.
Links for Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Kim talks with Kaleigh Paré Shaughnessy, Executive Director of the John Greenleaf Whittier Birthplace, about the namesake of the Whittier Bridge in Ossipee. Kaleigh tells us the story of how a young Massachusetts poet transitioned from a fierce abolitionist to one of America’s most beloved fireside poets, and how his name became attached to a New Hampshire covered bridge.
Links from the conversation
Whittier Bir...
Kim interviews Francis Faulkner, Jr. of Swanzey, about his involvement in fundraising efforts to rebuild the Slate Bridge after it was destroyed by arson in 1993. Francis shares the many layers of funding through the process of town meeting and the community connection to covered bridges in Swanzey.
Links from the conversation
Town of Swanzey
Links for Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Covered Bridges of New Hamp...
Kim interviews Marilyn Stuller of Langdon about her experience leading the fundraising efforts to save Langdon’s two historic covered bridges. Marilyn shares the story of the organic process that took fourteen years to complete and the value of preserving part of the tapestry of the greater Langdon community.
Links from the conversation
Farview Farm
Arnold M. Graton Associates
Town of Langdon
Kim talks with Trish Kane, Collections Curator of the Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Resource Center in Oxford, New York. Trish shares a history of the center, the significance of its namesake, and her personal journey in the preservation of historic covered bridges.
Links from the conversation
The Theodore Burr Covered Bridge Resource Center
The Oxford Memorial Library
Covered Spans of Yesteryear
New Yor...
Kim talks with master bridgewright Arnold M. Graton of Holderness about his long career preserving and restoring historic structures, most notably, covered bridges. Arnold shares his experiences utilizing nineteenth-century construction to both restore, and build, new covered bridges, not only in New Hampshire but across the country. This is a rare interview with a true master whose impact on the New Hampshire covered b...
Kim talks with Steve Taylor of Plainfield about the importance of covered bridges in New Hampshire communities. Steve explains how a practical approach to bridge building has translated into part of our cultural cache and how important these covered bridges are not only to small towns but to the state as a whole.
Links from the conversation
Stephen Taylor - New Hampshire Humanities Council
100 Things You Should D...
Kim interviews New Hampshire Preservation Alliance Executive Director Jennifer Goodman about historic preservation efforts in the state and their impact on saving covered bridges. Join us for a conversation about successful preservation efforts and how the Alliance celebrates this work.
Links from the conversation
New Hampshire Preservation Alliance
2020 Preservation Achievement Award Winner - Arnold M. Gra...
Kim interviews Sandwich Historical Society Director Jim Mykland about the Durgin family of Sandwich and their namesake covered bridge. Learn about the Durgin's influence on the political climate of Sandwich in the mid-nineteenth century as well as their role in the Underground Railroad.
Links from the conversation
Sandwich Historical Society
Links for Covered Bridges of New Hampshire
Kim interviews engineer Sean James, Senior Vice President at Hoyle, Tanner & Associates in Manchester about the twenty-one month-long rehabilitation of the Bath Bridge in Bath, New Hampshire. Sean walks us through the process of carrying out a $2 million project on a 375’ covered bridge and shares some interesting stories he learned along the way.
Links from the conversation
Hoyle, Tanner & Associates
Kim interviews two people who were instrumental in the 2021 rehabilitation of the Bement Bridge in Bradford. Town Administrator Karen Hambleton and engineer Josif Bicja from Hoyle Tanner share their experiences with the project and walk us through a $1.6 million renovation of an historic covered bridge.
Links from the conversation
Hoyle, Tanner & Associates
Town of Bradford
Links for Covered Bri...
Kim interviews engineer Bob Durfee of DuBois & King about bridgewright Peter Paddleford and his unique truss design. Learn why even though it was never patented, the Paddleford truss dominated covered bridge construction in northern New England for many years. Today there are only 22 Paddleford covered bridges left in New England.
Links from the conversation
DuBois & King, Inc.
The Paddleford Truss
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