The Covered Bridge at Wawona

The covered bridge at Wawona is one of the oldest standing structures in Yosemite. It spans the South Fork of the Merced River near the Pioneer Yosemite History Center, a low wooden bridge with a peaked roof and vertical board sides, painted dark red. It looks as though it was transplanted from rural Vermont, and in a sense the design was.

Galen Clark built the original open wooden bridge at this location in eighteen sixty eight, to carry travelers crossing the river on their approach to Wawona from the south. In eighteen seventy eight, the Washburn family, who had recently taken over the Wawona property, added covered cladding in the New England style they knew from their Vermont upbringing. The covered design was not primarily decorative.

Protecting the structural timbers from rain and snow dramatically extended the bridge's working life. The bridge was damaged by a major flood in nineteen fifty five, and the National Park Service stepped in to save it and rebuild it afterward. It remains a functioning crossing and one of the most photographed landmarks in any national park.