Poole's Mill Covered Bridge

Poole's Mill Bridge is a historic wooden covered bridge crossing over Settendown Creek (tributary of the Etowah River) in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States, built in 1901. It is 96 feet long.

Circa 1820, Cherokee Chief George Welch constructed a gristmill, a sawmill, and a simple open bridge at the site. Welch continued to run and maintain the mills and bridge until the Cherokee removal in 1838.

The land that held the bridge and mills was won in the land lottery by John Maynard of Jackson County, Georgia, who sold the land to Jacob Scudder. Following Scudder's death in 1870 the mill and bridge were bought by Dr. M.L. Pool. A cotton gin was added at the site in 1920, but cotton was largely abandoned by local farmers when the poultry farming was introduced. The mill was left in disuse by 1947 and was burned by vandals in 1959.

The original bridge that stood at the site was washed away in a flood in 1899. It was decided that a new bridge using the Lattice truss bridge style would be built on the site. The design called for wooden pegs to be driven into holes bored into wooden beams to hold the design together. The beams were cut on site at the saw mill, but the holes were bored in the wrong positions. At this point the construction was taken over by Bud Gentry, who oversaw the redrilling of the holes. The misdrilled holes can still be seen in the bridge's beams.

In the mid-1990s the bridge began to sag and a revitalization effort began. A support pier was built in the middle of the creek. During this revitalization private citizens also donated land in the area to allow the creation of Poole's Mill Park.

"Cherokee Chief George Welch constructed a grist mill here on his extensive homeplace c. 1820. An uncovered bridge was later added. With the 1838 removal of the Cherokees, the land was sold to Jacob Scudder. Dr. M. 1.. Pool purchased it from Scudder's family in 1880. Abandoned in 1947, the mill burned in 1959. The original bridge washed away in 1899 and was replaced with the present 96-foot structure in 1901. Constructed in the Town lattice design by Bud Gentry, the bridge's web of planks crisscrossing at 45-to 60-degree angles are fastened with wooden pegs, or trunnels, at each intersection." Erected by The Georgia Historical Society and the Historical Society of Forsyth County, Inc.

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