Where you can find historic covered bridges in New Jersey

When you think of old authentic covered bridges, New England and Northeastern states come to mind. Our neighbor Pennsylvania has the most in the country at 219. New Jersey has only two remaining.

One is historic, the Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge in Stockton, Hunterdon County. It was built in 1872, back at a time when the covered bridge was commonplace in America.

The other remaining covered bridge was a brilliant marketing structure built by legendary South Jersey builder Bob Scarborough. Scarborough built some really nice subdivisions in the 1960s and '70s in Cherry Hill and surrounding towns. He was a WWII hero and came home from the war eager to ply his trade as a builder. He gained a strong reputation over the years and became one of the biggest builders in Southern New Jersey.

When Cherry Hill was still known as Delaware Township in the 1950s, Scarborough was building the development Barclay Farms. He needed a bridge over a creek that would connect his two parcels of land that he was developing. So Bob built a covered bridge hoping to attract more interest in his project. It still stands today and is being carefully looked after by some concerned neighbors.

The Mitchell family, who live down the street on Covered Bridge Road, recently alerted township officials that the bridge needs a little TLC.

The Scarborough Bridge is historic in that it marked a time of massive building and prosperity in post-WWII America. It was also a brilliant marketing move and still looks pretty darn good after all these years.

It did have a renovation in 1993 and the townsfolk in that area still want to make sure it's maintained well into the future. After all, in 100 years no one will make a distinction between a covered bridge that was built in the late 1800s or the mid-1900s. Right?

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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