For this week’s Sunday drive, we decided to explore some of Alabama’s ten historic covered bridges. Since the map showed three just south of us in Blount County, we decided to start there.
We headed to Cleveland to begin our hunt. Swann Covered Bridge was the first one we tried to find. We were quite disappointed to find the road closed and no way of viewing the bridge. We thought it would be best if we didn’t hop over the locked gate and ignore the keep out signs, so we set our sights on the next bridge on our list, Old Easley, near Oneonta. Our GPS lead us on a wild goose chase. We seemed to be 0 and 2 in viewing a covered bridge for the day. We tried not to let this losing streak discourage us as we started our search for the third on our list, Horton Mill Covered Bridge.
We were delighted when, on our way to Horton Mill, we found Old Easley! This was our first covered bridge either one of us had ever seen. Much of the bridge had new wood. We thought it would have been more rustic, but we figure it is good that someone was restoring the structure.
When we came up on Horton Mill Covered Bridge, near Oneonta, we were more impressed. It was more of what we were expecting. The surroundings were so pretty.
On our way back to Decatur, we decided to go through Cullman to see if we could find Clarkson Covered Bridge. Turns out the best was saved for last and found in Cullman County. This 270-foot covered bridge was constructed in 1904. The bridge is in a small park with a nice little trail and picnic area. It is the last covered bridge in Cullman County and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.
