Of the state's 5,000 bridges - the most in New England - 293 are listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, according to the Massachusetts Highway Department. Of these, Franklin County has only 21, but that includes four of the state's eight covered bridges.
From the driver's seat, the more important fact is that these structures are a defining part of the region's largely rural landscape, traces of a past that included sprawling farms and river side mills.
Here are some of the unique structures to be found throughout the countryside, some on main thoroughfares, others on back roads, each of them somebody's favorite.
French King Bridge
Erving-Gill
Route 2 crosses the Connecticut River at the French King Gorge, a wide, placid band of water flowing between steep, wooded ledges. (The spot has inspired many legends about the source of its name, and probably none is true.) This 1932 bridge might be described as scaled-down skyscraper-deco. Each end is marked by a pair of white, three-tiered towers flanking the highway. A black cast-iron lamppost, topped by a vaguely Germanic cast-iron eagle, tops each tower. On the western end, a turnout invites people to stop and stroll out onto the bridge's wide sidewalk. Depending on the day, they might see mist rising in plumes from black water, or a lapis expanse mirroring clouds. Below the massive abutments a dazzling display of black steel trusswork supports an uncommon cantilevered, three-span arch. No wonder the American Institute of Steel Construction named it the most beautiful steel bridge of its class erected in America in 1932.
Schell Bridge
Northfield
