Ledyard Bridge

Infobox Bridge
bridge_name=Ledyard Bridge

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caption=
official_name=
carries=
crosses=Connecticut River
locale=Hanover, New Hampshire and Norwich, Vermont
maint=New Hampshire Department of Transportation
id=
design=Covered Bridge (previously), ? (now)
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clearance=
below=
traffic=
begin=1998
complete=
open=1859, 2000
closed=1935 [ [http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/bridges/past.html BRIDGES OF THE PAST - New Hampshire Covered Bridges ] ]
toll=
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coordinates= coord|43|42|13|N|72|17|59|W|region:US_type:landmark
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The Ledyard Bridge crosses the Connecticut River to connect Hanover, New Hampshire to Norwich, Vermont. It is the third bridge at this crossing to bear the name of the adventurer John Ledyard.

History

The first "Ledyard Free Bridge" was a covered bridge built in 1859 that was the first bridge across the Connecticut not to charge a toll. (It was the latest of several bridges at this site that went back to the late eighteenth century.) The bridge was named after Ledyard in 1859 because its eastern abutment was near the site of a tree that Ledyard felled during 1773 in order to make the dugout canoe in which he left Dartmouth College to continue his world travels.

The bridge now standing was built between 1998 and 2000 by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. At each end it displays a pair of "bridge balls," the controversial Classical ornaments cast in concrete that refer to the gateway to Tuck Drive nearby on the Hanover shore. They are the product of a Concord architect brought in by NHDOT to infuse some extra aesthetic appeal into the design of the bridge.

Border location

Although the border between New Hampshire and Vermont was set at the Vermont shore early in the states' histories, the bridge's monument to that border rests near the middle of the crossing; the reasoning is that the border was fixed before the Wilder Dam pushed the Vermont shore westward during the 1950s.

See also

* List of crossings of the Connecticut River

References

Crossings navbox
structure = Crossings
place = Connecticut River
bridge = Ledyard Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream = Route 113 bridge
upstream signs =
downstream = US-4 bridge
downstream signs =