PA Covered Bridge Journey: Gettysburg Sachs Covered Bridge

Today we continue on our journey from west to east through Pennsylvania by way of Covered Bridges. We have covered some of the bridges in Somerset and Bedford counties. We continued on our journey on the Lincoln Highway, climbing the many beautiful ridges of Fulton and Franklin Counties, seeing the many sights through Chambersburg, and more. The Lincoln Highway drive from Chambersburg, through Gettysburg and York, has more antiques stores than I have ever seen. If you are into antiquing, this area has tons of places to check out. My main destination was to go through the battlefields of Gettysburg and to see Sachs Covered Bridge, the next stop on our road trip.

Sachs Covered Bridge Coordinates: 39.7974° N, 77.2761° W

Sachs Covered Bridge - Built in 1852 and located in Gettysburg, PA 

This gorgeous bridge is one of the most historic in existence. The Pennsylvania Department of Highways, the predecessor to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, declared Sachs Covered Bridge to be the "most historic bridge" in Pennsylvania.  It is believed that the bridge was built in 1852, just nine years prior to the most devastating war ever waged on American Soil and 11 years before the Battle of Gettysburg. It is built in the Town Truss style and it crosses Marsh Creek. The water works for Gettysburg is located adjacent to the bridge.

The stormy and dreary weather seemed fitting for a place like this, the focal point of such tremendous human suffering.

The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest of the battles in the entire war, with estimates of casualties as high as over 50,000 people, with roughly tens of thousands, facing serious injuries such as lost limbs and more. Scores of individuals were lost and never identified. The losses in this battle are sickening. The silver lining in this battle is that this would start a turnaround that would eventually win to the north winning the war, though this is little consolation for the war would continue for close to two more years. I get an unexplainable sinking feeling in me every time I visit the battlefield, as I do when I visit the Johnstown Flood Memorial and the Flight 93 Memorial. 

This covered bridge was used by both armies in the midst of the battle. When the Confederate armies ran off in defeat, they used this bridge to retreat south. As with many places in the area, there are claims that this bridge is haunted, with many urban legends of stories in and around the bridge. I highly recommend making a visit to this bridge, that played a huge role in one of the darkest hours of our nation.