“The Covered Bridge Experience” includes all of the sights (bridge & buildings, farmland, river & vistas, people), sounds (clip-clop of horses, gurgle of the river, chirping of birds, Mennonite accents), tastes (maple fudge from a roadside stand or an ice cream cone from the general store), feelings (the breeze in your face, crisp fall air), smells (the rich, musty smell of the bridge and even the “fragrance” of freshly-fertilized fields!) and emotions (calm, tranquility, peace) you experience on a visit to and around the Covered Bridge.
The experience begins when you first arrive in the farmland around West Montrose. You see farmers working the fields, many with horses pulling the plows. You see horses and buggies and hear the clip-clop of hooves on the road, and see the one-room Mennonite schools, with kids playing ball outside in their dresses and black pants and white shirts.
You realize this is something very special – something you won’t find anywhere else in the world. You drive past historic buildings and unspoiled vistas along the river, and arrive at the covered bridge – built over a century and a quarter ago, and standing almost exactly as it did in 1881. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a buggy or two pass through the bridge. When you leave, you pass by a Mennonite meeting house and roadside stands where Mennonites sell their produce, baking and jams. What makes “The Covered Bridge Experience” so unique is that much of what you see and hear hasn’t changed for over 127 years. It is a piece of living history.
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