Seeing Double in Orangeville

By Linda Tancs

Columbia and Montour counties in Pennsylvania have the third largest concentration of covered bridges in the state—25 of them, to be exact. And in the tiny hamlet of Orangeville (Fishing Creek), you can double the pleasure of seeing these storied structures because there you’ll find the rarity of twin covered bridges. Known as East Paden and West Paden, they were constructed in 1884 and named after a local sawmill operator, John Paden. The price of construction was $720. When West Paden washed away in a flood in 2006, its reconstruction cost in 2008 would have been much higher were it not for a federal grant and the generous work of a contractor. A detailed driving map of the area bridges is available from the Columbia-Montour Visitors Bureau.