Philippi Covered Bridge
a.k.a. Lemuel Chenoweth Bridge at Philippi
U.S. 250 at jct. with U.S. 119, Philippi, WVBenjamin F. Kelley caught up with the retreating Confederates, and a brief skirmish ensued, resulting in three casualties. Confederate troops, some of whom were sleeping within the covered bridge, hastily fled. Dumont's 7th Indiana Volunteers "captured" the bridge for the Union. McClellan's reports of the engagement sent to Washington were so glowing that the engagement was hailed as a major victory for the Union. This first inland engagement of the Civil War and the later battle near Belington did, in large part, secure the B&O and this section of western Virginia for the Union cause.
At times, Union troops used the bridge as barracks and wartime traffic flowed over it in the movement of supplies from the railroad at Webster, south along the Tygart's Valley to maintain the army of occupation. Many of the other Chenoweth bridges on the Staunton Pike were destroyed. The Philippi bridge remained intact, largely because it was controlled by the Union, whose cause it served.
Reportedly, the bridge was in danger on two other occasions during the war. In 1863, the Confederate raider, Gen. William Jones made plans to burn the bridge. A local citizen, Rev. Joshua Corder, convinced Jones to spare the bridge. Again in 1861, three members of Confederate Company D, 20th Virginia mounted Infantry were ordered to destroy the bridge. Their commander, Bri.. General W. L. Jackson rescinded the order when it was learned that their plans were known.
The old covered bridge has survived the elements, war, flood, fire, and vehicular damage for nearly 120 years. In 1952 Philippi and the Barbour County Historical Society sponsored a centennial celebration, at which time a history of the bridge was compiled and published. The bridge's real significance may well be its long history of service in providing for the transportation needs of countless Virginians and West Virginians.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.