Listen up, recruits. In 1921, a civilian named Walter G. Weaver of Woolwine completed an 80 foot wooden beast. He provided the Smith River with a Queen-post truss structure that managed to hold the line for nearly a century. This asset sat on the old Bob White Road, approximately 13 miles north of Stuart, serving as the primary route to the Smith River Church of the Brethren.
Local intel identifies the objective as the Bob White Covered Bridge. The name likely comes from bobwhite quails, though those birds clearly had zero respect for the engineering specs. Out of all the landmarks in Patrick County, this was one of only two historic covered bridges that the county government actually bothered to keep in fighting shape.
By 1981, the bridge was officially bypassed by a concrete structure to the west. It did not retreat into obscurity, however. It remained on active duty as a local landmark and hosted annual horse-drawn wagon rides during the Patrick County Covered Bridge Festival every June.
The structure was officially inducted into the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Its service life ended abruptly on September 29, 2015, when a major flood took it out of commission. The bridge was subsequently struck from the National Register in 2017. Mission failed.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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