New York Covered Bridge Road Trip: 9 Bridges, About 6 Hours of Driving

9 stops220 milesabout 6 hr 18 min of drivingNew York

This route strings together nine bridge sites across six New York counties: Otsego, Delaware, Sullivan, Ulster, Schoharie and finally Rensselaer, where it ends on the Hudson. It covers about 220 miles with a little over six hours of driving, so treat it as a full day or split it in two. The original bridges span about eighty years of building, from 1825 at Hyde Hall to 1906 at Forge Bridge. Robert Murray's Long-truss work turns up twice in Delaware County. Water ties the route together too. The West Branch of the Delaware River runs under two stops, with the East Branch, the Beaver Kill and Schoharie Creek close behind. The last two stops are a 2018 replica and a lift bridge on the site of a lost covered bridge. Start early, check access locally at each site, and expect patchy cell coverage on the rural stretches.

Route and drive times from OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM). Times are estimates without stops; roads to remote sites can be unpaved or seasonal.

1. 1. Hyde Hall Bridge

   Otsego County, New York · built 1825

   

   Start at Hyde Hall Bridge, a 53-foot Burr-arch span over Shadow Brook in Glimmerglass State Park. It was built in 1825 and links road 31 to Hyde Hall, its namesake. It's called the oldest surviving covered bridge in the US, though Pennsylvania's Hassenplug Bridge may also date to 1825. It has carried only pedestrians since 1965, turned 200 in October 2025 and is on the National Register.

   Facts, map and sources for Hyde Hall Bridge →

2. ↓ 51.2 miles, about 1 hr 28 min

   2. Fitches Bridge

   Delaware County, New York · built 1870

   

   A longer leg, 51.2 miles and about 88 minutes, brings you to Fitches Bridge over the West Branch Delaware River. It was built in 1870 in Delhi village, moved to this site in 1885 and restored in 2001. Reported lengths are 100, 106 or 113 feet, so take any single figure with a pinch of salt. It's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

   Facts, map and sources for Fitches Bridge →

3. ↓ 10.9 miles, about 17 min

   3. Hamden Bridge

   Delaware County, New York · built 1859

   

   Just 17 minutes on, Hamden Bridge crosses the same West Branch Delaware River. Robert Murray built this Long truss bridge in 1859. A center pier was added in 1940, and it was rehabilitated and rededicated in 2001. It measures 128 feet, though some sources give 125, apparently the truss length. Like Fitches, it's on the National Register.

   Facts, map and sources for Hamden Bridge →

4. ↓ 11 miles, about 17 min

   4. Downsville Bridge

   Delaware County, New York · built 1854

   Robert Murray's name comes up again at Downsville Bridge, another 17 minutes along. His 174-foot Long-truss bridge from 1854 spans the East Branch Delaware River in the hamlet of Downsville and was restored in 1998. On May 14, 2026, Delaware County closed it to through traffic indefinitely because of structural problems, so check access locally first. It's on the National Register.

   Facts, map and sources for Downsville Bridge →

5. ↓ 16.3 miles, about 39 min

   5. Beaverkill Bridge

   Sullivan County, New York · built 1865

   

   After a 39-minute drive into Sullivan County you reach the Beaverkill Bridge, also called the Conklin Bridge, in Beaverkill State Campground. John Davidson built this single-span Town lattice truss across the Beaver Kill in 1865. It runs 98 feet, was rehabilitated in 2009 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

   Facts, map and sources for Beaverkill Bridge →

6. ↓ 24.5 miles, about 57 min

   6. Grants Mills Bridge

   Ulster County, New York · built 1902

   

   Officially this is the Mill Brook Bridge, in Hardenburgh, Ulster County, about 57 minutes from Beaverkill. Built in 1902 and listed on the National Register, it's recorded as carrying only pedestrians. Its length depends on who you ask: 66 feet according to the NY covered bridge society, 69.5 feet elsewhere.

   Facts, map and sources for Grants Mills Bridge →

7. ↓ 6.6 miles, about 15 min

   7. Forge Bridge

   Ulster County, New York · built 1906

   

   Fifteen minutes away and also in Hardenburgh, Forge Bridge is a small 27-foot kingpost bridge over Dry Brook, built in 1906 by Salem Jerome Moot. It's privately owned, so check access locally rather than assuming. It was rebuilt in 1985 on steel I-beams, and only part of the original framing remains.

   Facts, map and sources for Forge Bridge →

8. ↓ 35.6 miles, about 1 hr 1 min

   8. Old Blenheim Bridge

   Schoharie County, New York · built 2018

   

   Allow about an hour, 61 minutes, for the 35.6-mile run to Old Blenheim Bridge on Schoharie Creek in North Blenheim. Tropical Storm Irene destroyed the original 1855 bridge in 2011. The bridge there now is a close replica finished in 2018, 228 feet long against the original's 232. The original lost its National Historic Landmark status in 2015.

   Facts, map and sources for Old Blenheim Bridge →

9. ↓ 64.5 miles, about 1 hr 25 min

   9. Green Island Bridge

   Rensselaer County, New York · built 1981

   

   The final leg is 64.5 miles and about 85 minutes to Troy, and it ends with a confession: Green Island Bridge isn't a covered bridge. It's a 1981 vertical-lift road bridge over the Hudson River that Wikidata wrongly lists as covered. Its predecessors explain the stop. A covered bridge built here in 1832 burned in 1862, and its replacement collapsed in a 1977 flood.

   Facts, map and sources for Green Island Bridge →