Local construction company's restoration of covered bridge featured on PBS

HOLDERNESS — Local business owner Stan Graton II recently completed an important job, when his 3G Construction crew was called upon to reconstruct the longest single-span covered bridge in the U.S. The Blenheim Bridge, which spanned the Schoharie River in a small town in the Catskill Mountains of New York, was built in 1855, reached historic landmark status in 1964, and was reduced to rubble by Hurricane Irene in 2011.

The small town of Blenheim, New York quickly set about raising money to rebuild the bridge, seeking state and federal funding. Sensing a story behind the rising of the 228-foot bridge, PBS sent a camera crew to capture the process for an episode of NOVA, recently aired and available on demand at www.PBS.org.

Graton II heads the three generations that currently make up the 3G Construction firm that was established by his grandfather in the 1930s. True to its mission of “Specializing in the Difficult,” Graton II pulled together a crew that included bridgewrights, with his cousin Arnold (JR), father Stan, son Garrett, and local Plymouth aspiring bridgewright, William Adams. The decision was made to use a combination of power tools, historically accurate hand tools, and the engineering expertise of Expert House Movers to pivot the bridge from its position on the river bed onto its concrete embankment. 

Where once 15,000 covered bridges dotted the New England landscape, today 90% of them are gone, destroyed by nature or progress. The footage in the NOVA episode includes building a temporary bridge beside the placement of the covered bridge, in order to control its eventual placement, and building the abutments higher than the original, in case of future flooding. The project timeline was accelerated to avoid spring flood waters from the Catskill Mountains.

For additional information, contact Stan Graton II at 603 968-9587, or visit www.gratonconst.com.