About this event
The North Atlantic Audi Club (NAAC) invites you to enjoy our Eighth annual Covered Bridge Tour traversing roads & bridges in Northern New Hampshire. All car marques are welcome. Over the past seven years, we have raise over $7,500 for Best Buddies, and we look forward to breaking the $8,000 mark.
A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking and siding, in which most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun, but a covered bridge could last over 100 years. Including this year, we will have visited 99 covered bridges, and not one twice.
Covered bridges represent a link with our past. They stand as monuments to builders who had the vision and the ability to design and construct engineering masterpieces of wood. Men such as Ithiel Town, Stephen Long, James Tasker, and more recently, Milton Graton have left a lasting impression on the landscape.
There are about 14,000 covered bridges that have been built in the United States, most in the years 1825 to 1875. Today surviving bridges are number at fewer than 1000 by the United States Department of Transportation, and 814 by the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges as of 2009.
Remember too, each covered bridge is captured at a moment in time. These structures will change. Some will disappear, succumbing to the ravages of time and the carelessness of man. The outward appearance of some bridges will change in the future as they are rebuilt. Many bridges will appear to grow stronger as everything around them ages while others will appear ancient in their modern surroundings. Each bridge however, contains a character and an individuality all its own.
This years Covered Bridge Tour is to benefit NH Best Buddies (BB). BB is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, and inclusive living for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In 2021, we were able to raise $1500 in donations from this event for Best Buddies. Over the past seven years, we have raise over $5,000 for Best Buddies.
Check-in opens at 8:30AM with the tour leaving at 10 AM at the McDonalds Parking Lot, at the Junction of Route 25 and Route 16 in Ossipee NH. The tour will be approximately 120 miles in length with exactly 1.3 miles of dirt roads and we will visit 10 covered bridges. Detailed route instructions and bridge descriptions will be provided at registration.
Lunch will be provided along the route, please make sure you let us know if you have any food alergies.
The tour will end at the Littleton Freehouse Taproom & Eatery in Littleton NH, where they have indoor and outdoor seating, and we can enjoy some refreshments and nourishment for the ride home.
Registration is thru MSR at https://naaclub.motorsportreg.com/ and the entry fee is $50 per vehicle . Sign-in will begin at 8:30AM and first car off at 10:00AM, with the tour ending approx. at 5:00PM in the afternoon. Last, if it's a hot day, don't for get to bring your bathing suit, or flip-flops for some cooling off at some of the covered bridges along the journey.
Come enjoy the day.
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