A Covered Bridge In Troy?

By Valerie Britton - When I initially viewed the picture postcard on ebay I suspected the covered bridge itself was located in another town and only the sender was from Troy.   Nonetheless, I couldn’t turn away from Flora’s neatly inscribed, Troy, N.H., on top of the photo and her title, “Old Red Bridge,” so I decided to take a chance and won.  

Flora, and her twin sister were the daughters of Warren and Etta (Peck) Clark.  In 1907 Flora sent the postcard to her cousin Mr. Irwin Peck, in Everett, Mass.  It reads; Does this look familiar? When are you coming to see your friends again?  Chester (her brother) started working in Winchendon Monday.  Have you been to seen Bertha (her other sister) yet?  She is coming home for Memorial Day.  Have you got a different place to work?  I see you are living in Everett now.  Flora

At a website that documents North America’s lost covered bridges, a town named Troy in Cheshire County, N.H. was listed as having one covered bridge; fifty feet long, named Railroad Bridge, located 2 miles west of Troy on the road to Keene.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Adams has united with me to help solve the rest of the mystery. We ping-pong our ideas and new discoveries back and forth via e-mails and I’m grateful to have somebody as enthusiastic about the bridge as myself to bounce things off!  

With combined hikes and research we are “closing in” on the exact location of the “Old Red Bridge.”  We hope to reveal it in the September Issue of the TTN and then document our findings so the bridge will never be lost again.  In the meantime, if you have any other information about the bridge, please call 242-9796.