Just a few hundred feet north on route 8A in the center of
Charlemont is the newly rebuilt 92 foot Bissell Covered Bridge, the
third bridge on this site. The original bridge that crossed Mill
Brook was built about 1840 and was replaced in 1951. The current
bridge, which reopened in May of 2009 after two years of
construction, replaces the old bridge which had been closed to
vehicular traffic in 1995. The site of the bridge was added to the
National Register of Historical Places in 2004.
It took several years of discussion with the residents of
Charlemont and state engineers before it was agreed to do a
restoration of the bridge rather than demolish it and erect a
modern concrete and steel bridge. As a compromise the new bridge
has some special added support and guardrails, but to the casual
observer the new wooden covered bridge maintains the character of
the two preceding bridges at this location