Crossing the River

1765

Settlers moving to Norwich cross from New Hampshire in small boats. "Of our passage of the river," says early settler Jerome Hutchinson years later, "the only thing I can recall is the white face of our cow as she swam after the canoe."

1772

As part of the College charter, Eleazar Wheelock obtains an exclusive New Hampshire franchise to operate a ferry between Hanover and Norwich.

1796

The first bridge between Hanover and Norwich is a privately owned span created to link New Hampshire's Fourth Turnpike with Vermont's Connecticut River Turnpike. The College buys stock in the project and leases ferry rights to the corporation for 999 years at $50 dollars per year. Unfortunately for shareholders, the bridge remains largely unused; the highways do not yet extend to the river.

1804

The bridge collapses under its own weight.

1805

The Fourth New Hampshire Turnpike reaches Hanover.

1806

Shareholders are paid $4 per share after a new bridge shows a profit.

1807

Dividends drop to 57 cents per share; the new bridge proves to have been badly built and needs to be replaced.

1839

Despite the proven value of covered bridges, company directors build a third open bridge.

1849

The bridge company halts free crossing over the winter ice by driving piles into the road that leads to the riverbank. A hundred men armed with shovels, pickaxes, and hoes reopen the roadway.

1854

A suspicious fire destroys the bridge. Ferry service returns.

1855

The toll road across the river becomes a public highway. The bridge company is bought out for $1,500. Dartmouth College is paid $833 for its ferry franchise.

1859

The first Ledyard Bridge—a covered bridge—opens. The president of Norwich University invites Hanoverians to cross to "where there are greener hills and pleasanter roads."

1865

The bridge company is finally liquidated. Shareholders who bought stock in 1796 earn a total 2.6 percent return on their original investment.

1908

The last ferry crosses from Rope Ferry Road.

1934

Increased automobile traffic and the deterioration of the first Ledyard Bridge prompts its demolition. The quaint covered bridge is replaced by concrete and steel.

1988

On a bridge safety rating scale of 1 to 100, public authorities give Ledyard a zero.

1996

The third Ledyard Bridge is demolished and replaced with a fourth, larger one, complete with bicycle path.

Locals have not always been able to cross the Ledyard Bridge when they came to it.