Packerville Bridge

Packerville Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Packerville Bridge in April 2023
Location	Packerville Rd. over Mill Brook, Plainfield, Connecticut
Coordinates	41°40′1″N 71°56′56″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1886 (1886)
Architect	Olin, Nathaniel; Baldwin, Isaac J.
Architectural style	Masonry arch
NRHP reference No.	92001565
Added to NRHP	November 27, 1992

The Packerville Bridge is a historic stone arch bridge carrying Packerville Road over Mill Brook in Plainfield, Connecticut. Built in 1886, it is one of less than twenty surviving 19th-century stone arch bridges in the state, and is a well-preserved example of vernacular 19th century masonry bridge technology. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Description and history

The Packerville Bridge is located in a rural setting southwest of Plainfield's central village, carrying Packerville Road over Mill Brook just north of its junction with Lowes Way. The bridge is located just downstream from the Packerville Dam, a remnant surviving element of a 19th-century mill that stood nearby at the time of the bridge's construction. It is a masonry arch bridge with cut-stone barrel and rubble spandrels with a span of 26 feet (7.9 m) and a total structure length of 31 feet (9.4 m). The roadway width is about 20 feet (6.1 m), and is set about that distance above the water flow.

The bridge was built in 1886, after a major flood washed away most of the town's bridges. It was built out of stone because locations below mill dams were considered at greater risk of flooding owing to dam breaches, and stone bridges were thought to be better able to withstand that type of event. The stone was quarried near Westerly, Rhode Island. The principal alteration to this structure is the changing of the guard rails from stone to metal in the 20th century.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Windham County, Connecticut
• List of bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut