Shushan Bridge is a
covered bridge over the
Batten Kill in the hamlet of
Shushan in
Washington County, New York, near
Vermont. It is one of 29 surviving historic
covered bridges in New York State, and one of 4 surviving in Washington County.
It was built in 1858 by builder Milton Stevens.
Town and Howe truss designs were patented by
Ithiel Town in 1820 and
William Howe (architect) in 1840, respectively.
The Shushan Bridge employs "the patented Town lattice truss, consisting of top and bottom chords of laminated wood plank, and a web of diagonal wood planks connected by wood trunnels at each point of intersection".
It was individually inventoried by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in 1977.
It is one of four Washington County covered bridges submitted for listing in the
National Register of Historic Places in one multiple property submission.
The others are the
Buskirk Bridge, the
Rexleigh Bridge, and
Eagleville Bridge. All four were listed on the National Register on March 8, 1972.
The Shushan bridge was closed to traffic in 1962, and was left abandoned for 10 years, then saved by local preservation efforts. Now it is operated as a seasonal museum.