One of the longest wooden bridges in Berkshire County once spanned the Farmington River in Sandisfield. It is shown in the early 1900s (above) in a photograph taken by Frank DeMars, courtesy of the Great Barrington Historical Society. There is some debate about claims the bridge was “covered,” or whether it simply had high wooden walls
Located south of the Sandisfield hamlet of New Boston, the impressive wooden span was replaced with a metal truss arch-style bridge circa 1927. Located on “old Route 8,” the iron bridge (shown below) was bypassed in the 1960s when a new section of Route 8 was blasted through a neighboring mountainside overlooking the hamlet of Colebrook River, Connecticut.
Then, a new bridge was built over the Farmington River adjacent to Hanging Mountain, as shown in the bottom photograph. The old iron truss bridge was left intact.
Starting in the 1930s, and culminating in the 1960s, the entire village of Colebrook River was dismantled, cemeteries were relocated, and the valley was flooded to create a reservoir now known as Colebrook River Lake. When the lake water is low, old Route 8 can still be traversed with remnants of the village still visible. Sadly, the historic iron truss bridge is scheduled for demolition by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
