Group aims to restore footbridge

After being ripped from its stanchions by the May floods and washed 3 miles downriver, an 1840s footbridge could be heading for a new home in a less dangerous part of town.

The nameless covered footbridge that spanned the Lamprey River between two stone mill buildings downtown was flattened at 3:10 a.m. May 15 after three days of record rain. But two antique trusses that supported the span remain intact and will be used to support a restored bridge over a much smaller waterway in Schanda Park, if the money and manpower can be found for the job.

``The critical part is the cross-lattice trusses ; everything else is firewood," said Philip LePage, a member of the town's Advisory Heritage Commission . ``We're waiting for an assessment. At this point anything is possible."

That assessment came Friday and found that the Town cross-lattice trusses can and should be saved, according to Arron Sturgis , president of Preservation Timber Frame in Berwick, Maine.

Named for Ithiel Town , the Connecticut engineer who patented them in 1820, Town cross-lattice trusses support many of New England's covered bridges. Typically, this type of truss is about 20 feet tall.

The trusses supporting the Newmarket footbridge are about four feet tall, fixed together with bolts, nuts, and washers, all hand-hewn by hammer and anvil, making for a structure worth saving, Sturgis said.

``It's the only Town cross-lattice truss bridge with this size trusses that I've seen. It's a rarity," he said. ``The wrought-iron bolts, that's the real telltale. Think of how many of them there are here. This was a lot, lotta work. Even the nuts were made by hand. I tell you, you've got a really, really rare artifact here."

The hard decisions now rest with locals like LePage and Judy Ryan , the chairwoman of the commission.

The commission paid Sturgis $7,000 in 2004 to stabilize the sagging structure.

Sturgis volunteered a crew to come down and help salvage the trusses, but a lot more money and manpower will be needed if the bridge is to be restored, LePage said.

``There are only a few core people in town who really appreciated the significance of this bridge," he said. ``But many, many covered bridges have been restored in New England. There is plenty of precedent for this."

The restoration project has already cost $2,500 in towing fees to return the rest of the bridge from Fox Point in Great Bay, where it ended up after the storm.

A Newmarket Community Bridge Restoration Alliance was formed and plans are to rebuild the bridge in a less vulnerable location. First, the historic trusses would be stripped of walls and roof and hauled ashore.

The footbridge was originally not a covered structure, serving as a catwalk for workers crossing between the two mill buildings. The roof and walls, which still include some intact windows, were added later and, Ryan said, will not be missed.

The trusses would be placed in dry storage as the new home for the old bridge is readied in Schanda Park about 150 yards downriver from the mill buildings it once serviced. It's also hoped that some remnant of the 114-foot bridge would be used to span Moonlight Brook, replacing culverts that were overwhelmed during the deluge, said Richard Alperin, chairman of the Newmarket Historical Society .

``This brook was bottlenecked by three culverts in the park," Alperin said. ``This takes care of that bottleneck and uses as much of the bridge as we can by building a replica from it across Moonlight Brook."

That's a tall order for a budget already stretched thin. The bridge was covered by a modest insurance policy, Ryan said, but the rest will have to come from volunteer efforts, grants, and fund-raisers.

LePage suggested selling off parts of the bridge that aren't used in the restoration. It's just one of many different ideas being mulled to bring the bridge back to life.

``We are serious people," Le-Page said. ``But some people may think we're crazy."