Celebrating the 150th anniversary of a Bucks County icon

Earlier this spring, the Palisades School District and the Palisades Community Foundation (PCF) teamed up to celebrate a wonderfully unique experience: the 150th Anniversary of Knecht’s Covered Bridge. Along with help from our friends from the Covered Bridge Society, as well as the Springfield Township Supervisors, the celebration of the iconic landmark was a huge success!

The two-day celebration began with an artist-in-residence workshop during the school day, facilitated by Dr. Scott Watson, a special guest conductor, and our middle and high school band students. Later that evening, Dr. Watson, our band directors Ms. Rebekah Yost (high school) and Mr. Stephen Lowrie (middle school), and our talented band students performed in a concert featuring work from several composers including the world-famous composer Mr. Robert Sheldon, who wrote a song entitled, “The Red Covered Bridge.” The following day, this song was performed on location by the students in a field next to the bridge with many community members on hand to enjoy the lovely day with the Bucks County icon as the backdrop.

After the concert at the bridge, Palisades Community Foundation hosted a ticketed reception and a silent auction held at the historic Kirkland Farm. The proceeds from the event benefited PCF’s initiatives which include supporting the arts, education and wellness in the Palisades community.

Special thanks to all who were involved from the school district, the foundation, the township and the community, especially Mrs. Jody Hulber and Mr. Jeff Lindtner who originally approached the school district with the idea of having Mr. Sheldon’s piece played on location at the bridge.

This cross-curricular project also included an art and engineering show depicting covered bridges and an award-winning documentary video about the history of covered bridges in our area; the documentary notably won a first-place award in the National History Day competition held last spring.

Note: Knecht’s Bridge has survived arson attempts and extreme weather events and is one of only 11 remaining covered bridges in Bucks County.