Mechanic Street Bridge, Spanning Israel River, Lancaster, Coos County, NH

Significance: The Mechanic Street Bridge is an excellent example of the bridge truss developed in the 1840s by Peter Paddleford of Littleton, New Hampshire. The design features a multiple kingpost truss with long counterbraces that helped to distribute loads throughout the truss. Though never patented, the Paddleford truss dominated covered bridge construction in northern New England for over half a century.
Survey number: HAER NH-45
Building/structure dates: before 1862 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1967 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 2004 Subsequent Work