Willow Hill Bridge
One of the most tourusticated of all Lancaster County bridges, Willow Hill Bridge is located just off Route 30 in the center of the tourist's Lancaster County. But Willow Hill Bridge has a heritage that touches the heart.
Willow Hill is a reconstruction of Miller's Farm Bridge, a bridge built in 1871 by Elias McMellen. This old bridge was presented to the owner of the Willows Restaurant, Adolph Neuber, to preserve as a historic monument.
But there was not enough of Miller's Farm Bridge left to preserve. The remains of a second bridge, Goods Fording Bridge, built in 1855, was obtained for timbers and parts to use in the reconstruction.
Roy Zimmerman of Strasburg, the contractor for the restoration, built a new bridge of the parts of the two, using traditional methods along with the materials from the two bridges. Thus, ingenuity, love of the past, and a healthy tourist trade have combined to recreate and maintain one (or two) of Lancaster County's old covered bridges.
To the right we see the sign posted on the right side of the portal. Below is the view of the portal. (Even more than usual, we are indebted here to Benjamin D. and June R. Evans' book, Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges, for this information).
To the Driving Tour