Cox Ford Bridge
Built in 1913 by Joseph A.
Britton
Location: Located west of Turkey Run State Park.
Size: The length of this bridge is 176' +8' +8'. The
width is 16' with 13' of clearance. It has a Burr Arch 1 span
truss. The foundation is concrete on top of stone block ($385).
Original Cost: $4,235
Repair/Restoration History: Replaced iron bridge, built
in 1896, destroyed by flood in 1913. Deck replaced in 1975 by
County Highway Department.
Bridge History: Cox Ford was not bridged until 1896. When
the County Commissioners advertised for bids, they received lower
bids from J.J. Daniels and J.A. Britton, but they chose a more
expensive iron bridge. Iron Bridges were "modern".
The iron bridge was washed away in the flood of 1913. The
Armiesburg, the Plank Road, and the Hargrave covered bridges were
destroyed in the same flood. A contract for a replacement covered
bridge at Cox Ford was awarded to J.A. Britton. His bid was
contingent on the reuse of the Armiesburg Covered Bridge arches and
the iron bridge abutments. He raised the level of the bridge
another 5 feet. Today, the abutments are in two segments with 5
feet of poured concrete placed on top of the original hewn
stone.
The arches from the Armiesburg Bridge may have been sawn by
Charlton Britton, Joseph A. Button’s father. His sons, including
Edgar Britton, probably also assisted in the construction.
Joseph A. Britton built the Howard Bridge, at the Plank Road
site and the State Sanatorium Bridge, the same year. (The
Armiesburg Bridge was replaced with a concrete bridge).
Although the water below the Cox Ford Bridge now looks shallow,
several very large catfish were pulled out of there. Winfield
Catlin and James C. Buchanen went fishing there on June 2, 1920.
Mr. Catlin probed the water with a long stick under the larger
rocks. He found a large one and called to Mr. Buchanen. Mr.
Buchanen immediately tumbled into the water from a 12 to 15 foot
cliff (in a new suit of clothes) and tried to "hog" the fish. In
the lively struggle both men’s hands were cut as they reached into
the fish mouth and tried to drag it out of the water. Their trophy
fish weighed 47 pounds.
They placed the fish in the car and took it to the Rockville
Republican newspaper office. They said it wasn’t unusual, they had
caught them up to 75 pounds.
Turkey Run State Park now extends past the Cox Ford Covered
Bridge. A public parking lot and a canoe landing are located
southwest of the bridge.
The cache is a military decontamination container. Please hide
it as well or better than you found it. There is a Sacagawea dollar
in the cache for the first one to find.