Ackley Bridge is an excellent example of a multiple kingpost truss and a noteworthy early example of covered bridge preservation efforts in the United States. Built in 1832 by Joshua Ackley (b.1805) and Daniel Clouse (b.1812), Ackley Bridge originally spanned Enslow’s Branch of Wheeling Creek between Greene County and Washington County in Pennsylvania, where it carried traffic for over a century.

In 1937, when the covered bridge was slated for replacement, one of Joshua Ackley’s descendents acquired the structure and offered it to industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947) for his open-air village museum at Dearborn, Michigan. In the winter of 1937, the 80-foot covered bridge was carefully dismantled and transported to Greenfield Village (est. 1929), where it was re-erected over a man-made pond. The structure underwent repairs in 1974, stabilization in 1999, and restoration in 2000.