(click on images for larger view)
Naubuc Avenue,
Bridge No. 3671
• Naubuc Avenue over Porter Brook
• Glastonbury
• Stone arch
• Length: 20'
• Built in 1871
This is one of the best-preserved examples of the bridges built following the disastrous flood of
October 1869. Swollen by heavy rains that year, rivers and streams overflowed their banks and burst
through mill dams, washing away all bridges in their paths. Glastonbury was especially hard-hit,
with seventeen of the town's eighteen bridges destroyed. Over the next two years, the town built
replacements, mostly of stone, which it hoped would hold up to flood waters better than wooden
bridges. Instead of the usual few hundred dollars a year, Glastonbury's bridge expenditures
soared to about $36,000 and forced the town to take out a bank loan.
The masonry in this bridge is particularly distinguished. Although the spandrels are made of rougher
stone, the arch ring itself is formed from carefully cut brownstone blocks with the faces tooled in a
vermiculated pattern. Similarly finished blocks are used for the railings' thick capstones and
ends, one of which bears the date "July 1, 1871" carved in raised characters.
This bridge is probably the span referred to in town accounts as "Cove Bridge," since it was on the
road to Keeney Cove. Like Glastonbury's other "Flood of 1869" bridges, it was built with local labor
and materials.
