Department of Highways District 9

For Immediate Release
August 19, 2008

Media contact: Allen Blair
Allen.Blair@ky.gov
(606) 845-2551
(606) 748-3716

 

Goddard Covered Bridge center stage at Fleming County festival
Event set for Saturday, Aug. 23

FLEMINGSBURG, Ky. – The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's showpiece for its covered bridge restoration program will take center stage at a Fleming County festival this month.

The Fleming County Tourism Commission's 11 th annual Fleming County Covered Bridge Festival will be Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Goddard Covered Bridge alongside KY 32 at Goddard.

The 63-foot “lattice truss” bridge, which dates to the early 1800s, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is the only surviving example of builder Ithiel Town's lattice design in Kentucky and one of 13 covered bridges still standing in the state. Goddard is also one of three covered bridges still open to traffic.

The Goddard bridge remains open thanks to past restoration projects, the most recent undertaken in 2005 by the Transportation Cabinet, which utilized bridgewrights and stone masons familiar with covered bridge building techniques of the past.

Work at Goddard, which cost $1 million and relied on historic preservation, set the standard for future restorations in Kentucky because the existing bridge members were retained as much as possible.

Today it is possible to drive across the bridge while still viewing the historical wood beams used in its earliest construction

“Transportation indeed spans the generations,” said Transportation Secretary Joe Prather. “For more than 150 years, the Goddard community has relied on its bridge and treasured its history. We are more than happy to have played a small part in maintaining it.”

The Transportation Cabinet encourages motorists, tourists and other travelers to stop by the bridge on Saturday. An array of historic presenters and experts will be on hand.

The festival – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day – will also feature a morning kickoff parade through the bridge, a Civil War living history demonstration, a quilt show, antique tractors, arts and crafts, music, food vendors and more.

There will also be festivities at Fleming County's other covered bridges – the 86-foot Ringos Mill Bridge on KY 158 and the 86-foot Grange City Bridge on KY 111.

Directions: From Interstate 64, take Exit 137 at Morehead and travel west on KY 32 toward Flemingsburg for approximately 15 miles. From the AA Highway near Maysville, take KY 11 south to KY 32 east at Flemingsburg.

Find more information online at the Fleming County Chamber of Commerce Web site at http://www.flemingkychamber.com . Maps and bridge information are available by following the “Tourism” link.