Seed’s Bridge

The second covered bridge in what would become Pocopson Township was built in 1834 across the west branch of the Brandywine Creek in conjunction with a road building project that would connect West Chester, PA to the Maryland state line near present day Fair Hill, MD. This road, originally called State Road, would eventually be known as Route 842. Up until this time local travelers had to take other routes to cross the Brandywine Creek. Trimble's Ford was the nearest crossing point to the north and Wistar's Ford was the nearest crossing point to the south. Seeds' Bridge, as the new covered bridge would be called, was a 3 span Burr arch bridge with a length of 270 feet with a roadway width of 15 feet and was the longest covered bridge in Chester County. It was built by Wilson Buffington of Unionville. The bridge took it's name from George and Emmor Seeds which owned several hundred acres of farmland nearby and were among several farmers who petitioned for the bridge. At the time of it's construction the bridge was within West Bradford township. After 1849 the bridge was located completely within Pocopson Township. When the Wilmington and Reading Railroad (later known as the Wilmington and Northern) established a railroad stop near the southern approach to the bridge in 1874, the area would come to be to known as Wawaset. The covered bridge would be replaced by an open span concrete and steel bridge in 1932 using the original stone foundations. That bridge was replaced in the 1990's with an open span concrete and steel bridge on new concrete foundations. Carefully re-enter Route 842 and travel west.