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Covered BridgeElizabethton and Carter County, originally known as the Watauga Settlement, were first settled in 1769. Located on the Watauga River and centered around the Sycamore Shoals river crossing, this was the first of four permanent settlements located west of the Appalachian Mountains. Carter County was established in 1796 when Tennessee achieved statehood and was named for Landon Carter, the son of John Carter, one of the first settlers. Elizabethton, the county seat established in 1799, was named for Landon's wife, Elizabeth Maclin Carter. Elizabethton's Covered Bridge Built in 1882, the Covered Bridge is believed to be the oldest such bridge that is still in use for pedestrians. Constructed at a cost of $3,000 by contractor Dr. E. E. Hunter, George Lindamood and three carpenters, it spans the river for 134 feet, resting on earth and limestone abutments. Hunter hired Colonel Thomas Matson, who had engineered the elevated railroad tracks in New York City, to design the bridge and serve as construction chief. The original structure was made entirely of wood; mainly mountain oak and white pine beams that were hauled down the steep slopes of the mountains by draft horses and mules, weatherboard of mountain poplar, and shingles cleaved by mallet and form chestnut. Hand forged steel spikes and hand threaded bolts fastened together the massive pieces of oak flooring. Termed an "engineering feat" and listed in the Historic Engineering Record, the Covered Bridge survived numerous floods, including the great flood of 1901, which destroyed all the other bridges in the county that crossed the Doe River. |
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Stretching across the beautifully flowing, clear and cool water of the Doe River, Elizabethton's Covered Bridge is one of Elizabethton's premier and most photographed attractions. It is one of two bridges in Tennessee identified by a Tennessee Historical marker and is included on the National Registry of Historic Sites.