Qualla: Coldwater Covered Bridge https://qualla.com/coldwater-covered-bridge en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/z/coldwater-covered-bridge-wp/coldwater-bridge-6-22-2014-5.jpg Qualla: Coldwater Covered Bridge https://qualla.com/coldwater-covered-bridge Coldwater Covered Bridge: Introduction https://qualla.com/coldwater-covered-bridge/ Photo credit NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0. The builder's name has been lost. What survives is his work: a wooden covered bridge of such precise craftsmanship that it has outlasted every other covered bridge in Alabama. Built around 1850 by a formerly enslaved man whose identity history failed to record, the Coldwater Covered Bridge combines two distinct engineering traditions - the Multiple King-post truss and the Town Lattice pattern - into a single span that has endured fire, neglect, relocation, and nearly two centuries of Alabama weather. It stands today not where it was built, but in Oxford Lake Park, a quiet survivor transplanted to safer ground.

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Image: NealVickers | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/z/coldwater-covered-bridge-wp/djfz-coldwater-covered-bridge-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Coldwater Covered Bridge: An Engineer Without a Name https://qualla.com/coldwater-covered-bridge/ Photo credit NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0. The facts are sparse but telling. Sometime around 1850 - though some sources push the date back to 1839 - a formerly enslaved craftsman constructed a covered bridge over Coldwater Creek, near the border of Calhoun and Talladega counties in east-central Alabama. The bridge served ...

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Image: NealVickers | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/z/coldwater-covered-bridge-wp/djfz-coldwater-covered-bridge-an-engineer-without-a-name.mp3 0:06 2 full Coldwater Covered Bridge: Trial by Fire and Time https://qualla.com/coldwater-covered-bridge/ Photo credit NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0. For seventy years the bridge carried traffic across Coldwater Creek without incident. Then, in the early morning hours of August 11, 1920, fire partially consumed the structure. But the heavy timbers and the lattice framework held. Repairs were made, and the bridge returned to se...

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Image: NealVickers | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/z/coldwater-covered-bridge-wp/djfz-coldwater-covered-bridge-trial-by-fire-and-time.mp3 0:06 3 full Coldwater Covered Bridge: A Bridge Moved to Safety https://qualla.com/coldwater-covered-bridge/ Photo credit Jonathunder, Public domain. In 1990, the City of Oxford intervened. The Coldwater Covered Bridge was fully restored and relocated to Oxford Lake Park, off State Route 21, a few miles east of its original creek crossing. Its original tin roof was replaced with shingles. The bridge now spans the outflow from ...

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Image: Jonathunder | Public domain

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/z/coldwater-covered-bridge-wp/djfz-coldwater-covered-bridge-a-bridge-moved-to-safety.mp3 0:06 4 full Coldwater Covered Bridge: Wood and Water in the Appalachian Foothills https://qualla.com/coldwater-covered-bridge/ Photo credit NealVickers, CC BY-SA 4.0. Oxford Lake Park is a quiet place - walking trails, fishing spots, picnic shelters nestled in the rolling terrain of the Appalachian foothills. The covered bridge fits here in a way that feels almost too natural, as though it had always been part of the landscape rather than a re...

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Image: NealVickers | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/f/z/coldwater-covered-bridge-wp/djfz-coldwater-covered-bridge-wood-and-water-in-the-appalachian-foothills.mp3 0:06 5 full