Photograph Highlights of Covered Bridges in New Hampshire
and a Special Bridge in Frankenmuth, Michigan
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

This photographic special contains several shots of a few of New Hampshire's 52 covered bridges.
Then it features a very special covered bridge called Zehnder's Holz-Brucke
in the historic Bavarian town of Frankenmuth, Michigan
My first full-time faculty position was at Michigan State University
We often went to the famous Zehnder's Restaurant in Frankenmuth ---
http://www.zehnders.com/dining/zehndersdining.htm

I never met Milton S. Graton, but in a way he's a special man in my life that I never met
He was a mover of buildings and a builder/restorer of covered bridges
Little did I know that the he not only moved my cottage, before it was owned by me, from a
golf course to its present site where a historic hotel once stood, but he also was
the builder of the Zehnder's Holz-Brucke covered bridge in Frankenmuth

Zehnder's 1979 Covered Bridge in Frankenmuth, Michigan ---
http://my.net-link.net/~michaelf/zehnders.htm

First I might note the the Blair Bridge in Camton, NH
Milton Graton did not build this historic bridge in 1829, but he restored the bridge in 1977
I think the main reason for the roof was to keep ice and snow off the roadway below below the roof
In the days of horses and wagons it was difficult to push deep snow over the sides of the bridge
Unless a roof kept all that snow off the roadway in the first place

In 1987 Milton Graton restored the Brown's River Covered Bridge (also called the Westford Bridge) in Vermont ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browns_River_Covered_Bridge

There are three covered bridges just down the road from our cottage in Bath, NH
One is called the Bath-Haverill Bridge

Near Bath there's also the Swiftwater Covered Bridge

There's also a covered bridge simply called the Bath Bridge

This is the Sawyer's Crossing Bridge in Swanzey, NH

This is the Ashuelot Covered Bridge in Winchester

Now let's view a few pages from the 1980 book written by Milton S. Grafton
The Building of Zehnder's Holz-Brucke by Milton S. Graton (Plymouth, NH:  Clifford-Nicol Inc., 1980)
Also see the Website at http://my.net-link.net/~michaelf/zehnders.htm 
I thank the former owner of our cottage, George Foss, for giving this book to me
George is now selling his mountain top home at 187 Lehan Road in Bethlehem, NH
The Zehnders Bridge was constructed in 1979 in Frankenmuth, Michigan

On Page 5 there's picture of the bridge builder and author Milton S. Graton

On Page 12 the   complicated framing is pictured

The above covered bridge in Frankenmuth, Michigan was finished in 1979
Two years earlier Milton Graton worked less than an hour from his home in New Hampshire
moving the Braton Cottage in Sugar Hill, NH, a cottage that eventually became our cottage in 2003

In 1900 the our SSH cottage was known on the resort as "The Pavilion"
It served first as a golf club house and years later as a tennis club house
Later on Mrs. Braton purchased the cottage and winterized it while it was still on the golf course

Sunset Hill Hotel Resort History Set 01 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/CottageHistory/Hotel/Brochure/Brochure1900.htm   

After the Sunset Hill Hotel Resort was nearly all demolished in 1973, our cottage (before it was ours)
was moved in 1977 from the golf course across a tennis court and up to where the former hotel site.
I show pictures of the preparation work prior to the moving the cottage and its four fireplaces
     http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/OldSite/Set01/Set01.htm

Next I show pictures of the move to the new site
     http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/NewSite/Set01/Set01.htm 

Next I show the pictures of a 1980 spectacular fire on one of the remaining three cottages
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/CottageHistory/Fire/FireSet01.htm

This is Milton Graton on his bulldozer that hardly looks big enough to move a cottage along with its four fireplaces
But Graton claimed the secret was in how you leverage what you want to move and having the rolling logs perfectly set

Milton Graton is standing on the right

And this is what the cottage looks like in 2013 sitting where the huge hotel once rested
A master bedroom sitting over a garage was added in the back after the move
And the arched windows of the front porch were replace by glass windows such that
the front porch overlooking the White Mountains are now glass windows

This is the eastward view of the Kinsman Range's Mt. Layfayette and Cannon Mountain
The visible ski trail alongside Franconia Notch is about ten miles away

Milton S. Graton's Books ---
http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4798549.Milton_S_Graton

Zehnder's Covered Bridge in Frankenmuth, Michigan ---
http://my.net-link.net/~michaelf/zehnders.htm

New Hampshire Covered Bridges --- http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/bridges/

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Blogs of White Mountain Hikers (many great photographs) ---
http://www.blogger.com/profile/02242409292439585691

Especially note the archive of John Compton's blogs at the bottom of the page at
http://1happyhiker.blogspot.com/

White Mountain News --- http://www.whitemtnews.com/

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Our address is 190 Sunset Hill Road, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
Our cottage was known as the Brayton Cottage in the early 1900s
Sunset Hill is a ridge overlooking with New Hampshire's White Mountains to the East
and Vermont's Green Mountains to the West

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/