We're about an hour north of Philadelphia, near Allentown. LeHigh Valley has seven covered bridges and they offer a self-guided tour that covers about fifty miles. Five out of the seven are still used for regular traffic. Here is LeHigh Valley's romantic history of the covered bridges:
Why were the bridges covered? To keep them dry - not the travelers, not the horses or wagons of hay, nor the sweethearts halted in the shadows, but the plank roadways. Some say the bridges were covered to resemble barns, making horses less hesitant to enter.
Covered bridges have a romantic quality that we associate with times when life moved more slowly. The shade they provided made them a natural place to pause from the summer's heat. Pausing was for some a chance to steal kiss - hence their name Kissing Bridges!
By day, the sides of covered bridges served as the first billboards for dispensers of quack medicine, political hopefuls, religious zealots, undertakers or anyone with an urgent message."
The seven bridges, in order, are:
Bogert's Bridge
Manasses Guth Bridge
Wehr's Covered Bridge
Rex's Covered Bridge
Geiger's Covered Bridge
Schlichers Covered Bridge
Kreidersville Covered Bridge
Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!