Before diving into computer approaches, I’d thought I’d do it old-school, by hand. Well, as old school as Google Maps is. Google Maps only lets you put in 10 destinations so I’ll break the trip up into section. This works out fairly well since the bridges mostly occur in clusters. I’ll start at Bridge #1, the Ashuelot Bridge in Winchester NH. Why this one? There are many reasons. First, it is number 1, how can I not start there. It is also the southernmost bridge, so it is a good candidate for being correctly placed when we get the real route done. But most importantly, I have a picture of…

The map from the previous post showed some nice clusters of bridges. I shouldn’t have been surprised, early one I posted an tiny, ancient, map that showed the bridges but the clusters were pretty hard to see. One I had the google maps up though they were easy to see. I’ve circled them on this image and then drew a rough route around them. This show what the approximate path will likely be. Lets drop those cities in google maps and make a quick and dirty route. Winchester, Concord, Plymouth, Conway, Lancaster, Pittsburg, Lincoln, Bath, Lebanon and Winchester to close the loop. Lets digress a moment though before, why a…

If you’re not into data, like I am, you might be wondering why I spent hours making that CSV file. That’s a reasonable question. The thing is, once you have your data all nice and pretty, then you never ever have to type it in again and, better still, you can do all sorts of things with it. I wanted to put up a map showing all the bridges. So I went to google maps, hit the “hamburger menu” in the upper right and selected Your Places. And yes, that really is called a hamburger menu. It is made up of three slices, 2 buns and the protein. And no,…

If you live in New England, you’ve seen one, the iconic covered bridge. They were built for practical reasons, an uncovered wooden bridge has a lifespan of about 20 years, a covered bridge can last for 100. I guess there were over 100,000 at the peak in the United States but now there are only about 750. [citation needed] But one cannot deny the charm of a rustic covered bridge over a quiet stream or a roaring waterfall. So are there only 54 in New Hampshire? There are many lists about, but many are on private property and many aren’t historic, that’s when we just decide to trust the government!…