Ackley Covered Bridge

01

Artifact Overview

In addition to lending some charm, covering a bridge protects its wooden truss work from weather, extending the structure's service life. Joshua Ackley and Daniel Clouse built the Ackley Covered Bridge in 1832, across Wheeling Creek in southwestern Pennsylvania. Henry Ford acquired the bridge in 1937, when it was scheduled to be torn down, and moved it to Greenfield Village.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Covered bridge

Date Made

1832

Subject Date

1832

Creator Notes

Built on Wheeling Creek near West Finley, Pennsylvania by foreman Daniel Clouse with materials from the farm of Joshua Ackley.

Location

at Greenfield Village in Porches and Parlors District

Object ID

37.799.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Elizabeth L. Evans.

Material

Oak (Wood)
Wood (Plant material)
Stone (Worked rock)

02

Related Content

  • Hanks Silk Mill
    Set

    Greenfield Village Buildings

    • 84 Artifacts
    As America was taking its first steps towards industrialization, the Hanks family of Mansfield, Connecticut, made early attempts to mechanize the production of silk thread. Rodney Hanks and his nephew Horatio Hanks built this mill in 1810. It was the first silk mill in America, producing some of the first silk with machines that were powered by a waterwheel.
  • Throstle Spinning Frame, circa 1835
    Set

    Featured on The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation: Season 8

    • 26 Artifacts
    Spinning frames spin cotton fiber into yarn and then wind it onto a bobbin. This throstle spinning frame could simultaneously spin 64 strands of yarn. (Throstle -- an old name for a song thrush -- refers to the bird-like sounds the machine made.) Machines like this helped produce the large quantities of yarn that growing industrial weaving operations needed in the early and mid-1800s.