Steeley's (1835-1939)

East Rockhill

Steeley’s Covered Bridge sat just outside of Perkasie Borough near Mood’s Bridge on Branch Road.

The bridge crossed the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek. Little is known about it, but it was called the "second bridge" over the Branch Creek.

County engineer Oscar Martin surveyed and photographed the remaining Bucks County covered bridges in 1919. Steeley’s Bridge measured at 129 feet long, and it was made from oak and pine. Martin said it was on the “road from South Perkasie to Hagersville.”

In 1931, there was a strange incident at the "second bridge," when hundreds of pounds of meat and bones were dumped in the Branch Creek. When investigators went back to look for clues, the local buzzard population apparently had removed the evidence.

In October 1939, the Perkasie Central News said that the county had removed Steeley’s Bridge over the summer and a new concrete-and-steel bridge was nearly ready to be put in place. It confirmed the old bridge was sited on the Branch Creek; “several miles east of town.” The newspaper also noted that the South Perkasie Covered Bridge had gotten long-awaited repairs including new weatherboarding on its sides.

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