Drift Creek Historical Covered Bridge, Built in 1914
Drift Creek Covered Bridge is a nice piece of History on the way to the Oregon coast. Claimed as the oldest remaining covered bridge in Oregon.
Location:
From Lincoln City head north on Hwy 101 to Hwy 18. Travel east on Hwy. 18 to milepost 3.96. Exit Hwy. 18 and travel south on Bear Creek Road 0.9 mile. The bridge is located on the left.
From Portland take I5 South to 99w heading towards Newberg and McMinnville. In approximately 17.8 miles take the Hwy 18 Bypass towards the Oregon Coast. follow this for another 49.2 miles to Rose Lodge, Or and make a left turn onto Bear Creek Road, this is a hard road sign to see so pay attention.
Drift Creek Bridge was originally built on a span of the highway only 1.5 miles from the coast, as new roads and highways were built later on it diverted the traffic from it’s original remote site.
When the bridge was originally built in 1914, the area surrounding the bridge site was known as Lutgens, and in 1917, the name was changed to Nice. Overall, the area has had at least eight name changes occur in this community prior to the closing of the post office in 1919.
This bridge was completely dismantled in late 1997. The County gave the timbers that made up the covered bridge to the Sweitz family who owned land only eight miles to the north of the original site.
Laura and Kerry Sweitz had envisioned the house being rebuilt over their concrete bridge that provides access to their property across Bear Creek. Thier vision was to resurrect & preserve the bridge which now stands in a small, beautiful park-like setting.
The Sweitz family has given the public easement for heritage purposes for all time.
