Bull's Bridge

The bridge carrying Bull's Bridge Road over the Housatonic River has roots going back to 1760, when Jacob and Isaac Bull — brothers who ran an ironworks here — built the first of what would become at least five wooden spans across this rocky gorge. The current structure dates to 1842 and uses the Town lattice truss design, reinforced over the decades with additional supports and, in 1969, concealed steel plate girders added to handle modern traffic loads. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and today it remains one of only two covered bridges in Connecticut still open to motor vehicles — which means actual cars and bikes roll through it daily, not just tourists on foot.

The single-lane crossing demands attention: stop signs at each portal are standard, and pedestrians sharing the span with through traffic is an acknowledged friction. Once across, the payoff is immediate. The bridge stands just south of a drop in the river bed where the Housatonic cascades through a small gorge, producing whitewater rapids and falls visible from the bank. A free parking area on the southeast side gives access to the water's edge, and the Appalachian Trail runs through the area for riders who want to stretch their legs beyond the overlook. Trails can be narrow and get slippery after rain, so footwear matters if you plan to venture past the riverbank.