Schofield Ford

Text

The current covered bridge at Schofield Ford (or Twining Ford) in Tyler State Park is the second at that location. Arsonists destroyed the original bridge in 1991.

The first Schofield Ford Covered Bridge was built over the Neshaminy Creek in 1873 to standard covered bridge specifications, but it also had two spans and required an 18-foot-high pier at the bridge’s center. The bridge remained in road service until after World War I, when it was part of property acquired by George F. and Stella Elkins Tyler. By the 1930s, the bridge stood on private property as part of the family’s land.

The Tylers were prominent society figures and eventually acquired 2,000 acres of land in Newton for their Indian Council Rock estate. After their death, part of the property became the Bucks County Community College, with the bulk of the property acquired by the state for $2 million to create Tyler State Park. At the time, the state said it would preserve all historic structures in the park.

The park opened in 1974, with the covered bridge as one of its centerpieces. But by 1980, it was listed as a structure in poor condition on the National Register of Historic Places designation form for Bucks County’s covered bridges.

On October 7, 1991, the original bridge was destroyed by a fire believed to be arson. Only the stone abutments survived. Concerned citizens formed the Schofield Ford Bridge Committee to help raise the $360,000 need to repair the abutments and build a new bridge.

Over the next six years, volunteers, contractors, and government agencies worked together to build the replacement bridge, which opened on September 7, 1997. Volunteer framers helped to complete the project.

Today, the 170-foot-long bridge is accessible by foot or trails and it is the only Bucks County Covered Bridge that is not painted.