Flanders-Drakestown Stone Arch Bridge

The stone arch bridge at this crossing over the south branch of the Raritan River dates to around eighteen sixty, long recognized as the oldest bridge of its type in Morris County. It replaced an earlier wooden structure from the eighteen thirties, itself a sign that this road was already a well-worn artery linking Flanders and Drakestown. Two-span stone arch bridges like this one were engineering landmarks in their day, built to handle increasing commercial and farm traffic without the rot and flood risk of timber.

Morris County's ironworks and agricultural economy depended on exactly this kind of durable infrastructure. The fact that it still stands more than one hundred sixty years later is a testament to the quality of that mid-nineteenth century masonry work.