1981 Fire destroys Kentucky Landmark

The Sherburne Bridge, spanning the Licking River, is known as the last suspension covered bridge in Kentucky.

The first week of April in 1981, Kentucky lost a landmark when one of the states covered bridges was destroyed by fire.

On the morning of April 6, the Sherburne Bridge over the licking river on the Fleming-Bath County Line, 12 miles south of Flemingsburg, on Ky. 11 burned at 3:30 a.m.

Two juveniles, ages 14 and 17, were take into custody after an investigation.

The two boys, on spring break from school, reportedly had been playing around by the bridge and told authorities that when one of them fell into the water, they built a fire to get warm and dry off, but the fire got out of hand.

The Sherburne bridge was known as the last suspension covered bridge in Kentucky.

However, the state’s foremost covered bridge expert, Louis “Stock “Bower of Fleming County, said in an interview with a reporter from the Associated Press that wasn’t what made the bridge unusual.

“Those cables were put on there in the 1950s,” Bower said. “A bronze plaque by the bridge says they were installed in 1951, but they weren’t needed. That bridge was self-supported. It carried 30 to 40 tons every day and night. The bridge was unusual because it had horizontal siding instead of vertical siding like other covered bridges and it had what ordinarily are known as windows, but in a covered bridge are called louvres.”

Bower said the bridge would be impossible to replace for two reasons, “the structural timber is virtually unobtainable and the old craftsmen who knew how to do these things are gone and have been for a long time. My father, Louis Bower, was the last of the covered bridge builders. My grandfather was Jacob Bower, born in 1819 and we were all bridge builders. The Sherburne bridge was the finest example of the covered bridge left in the state of Kentucky. I know that for a fact because I am familiar with all of them. I’ve inspected every covered bridge in the state at least once.”

According to Bower the Sherburne bridge was made of yellow pine, was very dry and burned like gasoline.

The structures flooring was 263 feet long but had overhangs at each end of about 10 feet each.

It was comprised of two unequal spans. The Bath County span was 156 feet and six inches in length and the Fleming County span was 106 feet and six inches,” Bower said.

All that’s left are stone piers and abutments – and an historical marker.

The Sherburne Covered bridge cost $3,500 to build in 1866-67 and was a toll bridge on the stagecoach route from Mt. Sterling to Maysville.

In the spring of 1974, the bridge was declared unsafe for travel by any vehicle over five tons and a weight limit was set.

In July 1974, the weight limit on the bridge caused some difficulty for Kenny Wilson, a soft drink company employee from Morehead.

Wilson solved the problem by unloading the grocer’s order on the bath county side and rolled it across the bridge to the Sherburne store.

Today, the only thing left of the towns beloved covered bridge are the abutments, the stone pier in the center of the river that once held the weight of the bridge and an historical marker.