The public interest in the pieces, which cost $150 to $1,600 each, is "just unbelievable," said Cressman, a retired carpentry teacher and chairman of the Bucks County Covered Bridge Society.
The 170-year-old Pine Valley span, where New Britain and Doylestown Townships and New Britain Borough meet, is one of a dozen covered bridges remaining in Bucks County, relics of the quiet, rural life that defined the region in the early 1800s.
Then, they were known as "kissing bridges," because young couples would steal a romantic moment in the shadows, or "wishing bridges," because travelers used to make wishes as they passed through.
Bucks County once had 54 of them, but they have slowly vanished, the victims of neglect, floods, arson, traffic damage - and, some might say, progress. Philadelphia and Montgomery County have one each; Chester County has 15, and one straddles its border with Delaware County.
Long intrigued by the picturesque bridges dotting the countryside, Cressman joined the crusade to preserve them after Mood's Bridge, near his home in East Rockhill Township, was destroyed by arson in 2004.
"The whole community was shattered," said Cressman, who was inspired by the catastrophic fire to help found the covered-bridge society.
In 2008, he said, the community celebrated with a parade when the bridge, rebuilt with fireproof lumber, reopened.
Last August, Cressman received a phone call from a county official overseeing the refurbishing of the 81-foot-long Pine Valley Covered Bridge on Old Iron Hill Road, over Pine Run Creek. Neighbors were starting to line up with wheelbarrows, intending to cart away the discarded wood for kindling, he told Cressman. Might the timbers be put to some better use? the official asked.
