Staats Mill Covered Bridge

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Staats Mill Covered Bridge, also known as Tug Fork Covered Bridge, is a historic wooden covered bridge in Jackson County, West Virginia, near Ripley. It was built in 1887 to cross the Tug Fork of Big Mill Creek and was named after Enoch Staats’ water-powered mill. The Staats family were early settlers in the area, arriving around 1780. The Jackson County Court paid local craftsmen about $1,788 to complete the bridge.

The bridge is about 100 feet long and uses the Long truss system, designed by Stephen Long in 1830. Its distinctive feature is the X-shaped diagonals in each of the 11 panels. Each panel is roughly 8 feet 7 inches long and 14 feet 3 inches deep, making it an important example of late 19th-century timber bridge building.

In 1979, Staats Mill Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1983, the bridge was moved to Cedar Lakes State Camp (FFA-FHA) and rebuilt across a pond there at a cost of about $104,000. It is now open to pedestrians only, with Dr. Emory Kemp of West Virginia University playing a key role in the project.