A vehicle drives from New Hampshire towards us, in Vermont, through the Mount Orne Covered Bridge.
The Historic Mount Orne Covered Bridge, named for the nearby Orne Mountain, spans the Connecticut River and connects Lancaster, New Hampshire, to Lunenburg, Vermont. It was built in 1911, though an earlier bridge, called the South Lancaster Bridge, was built at the location likely between 1870 and 1885. It is more of a utilitarian bridge than some others with less in the way of aesthetic design and has been a key crossing point for many years for some industries.
A view of the Mount Orne Covered Bridge as seen from the Vermont shore of the Connecticut River. Look closely and you may see a fisherman on the far side under the bridge.
A view of the Connecticut River from the Vermont side, near the Mount Orne Covered Bridge.
Mount Orne Bridge is an example of a Howe truss, patented by William Howe in 1840. In this design, vertical supports are metal rods instead of timber, which increased the load capacity of the bridge. This is one of four Howe truss bridges in New Hampshire. It is a two span bridge with a length of 266 feet. At one point maintenance was equally shared between New Hampshire and Vermont, but when the boundary between states was moved to the Vermont side of the river New Hampshire took on the majority of costs with Vermont just maintaining the entrance and a small section on their end.
A view inside the Mount Orne Covered Bridge. Notice the vertical metal support rods indicative of the Howe truss design.
Driving through the Mount Orne Covered Bridge towards New Hampshire.
Being a utilitarian bridge, Mount Orne Bridge has been used by many trucks transporting materials across the bridge. Unfortunately, it has also been victim to many accidents with loads that were too tall, tearing up the roofing beams and supports, or too heavy, causing damage to the flooring. The sign above the entrance has the dates of 1911, the original construction date, and 1983, when major revocations occurred. But due to all the accidents it has undergone many repairs over the years. During some years signs were posted to cross at your own risk. And at other times the bridge was completely closed.
Exiting the Mount Orne Covered Bridge into New Hampshire and the rain.
Mount Orne Covered Bridge is number 30 in the New Hampshire list of covered bridges. We visited this bridge on June 19th, 2025. It began to sprinkle while we were on the Vermont side, and while we drove through the bridge towards the New Hampshire side the rain increased. Click here to see the list of covered bridges we visited while traveling through New Hampshire in mid-2025.
Resources
Most of the details within this post were learned either from signs at the bridge or from the fantastic book, Covered Bridges of New Hampshire by Kim Varney Chandler, which I purchased from a small local shop in Lincoln while on our trip. It’s well worth it if you plan to visit the area or are just interested in covered bridges and their history and construction. The link takes you to the author’s website for the book with lots of extra information and with links to let you purchase directly from her.
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