Gold Brook Covered Bridge (Emily’s Bridge)
Stowe, Vermont, United States
Road or bridge · local-legend
The Story
Vermont’s Gold Brook Covered Bridge has another name in the stories of Stowe: Emily’s Bridge. A broken-love tale places a young woman’s spirit among its timbers, with reports of lights, voices and apparitions. The actual nineteenth-century bridge is a public-road landmark, but the town restricts parking nearby at night.
The Hauntings
The bridge is small, dark-stained and deeply familiar to Stowe. Gold Brook runs beneath its timbered roof, carrying a quiet country road across water and into a story that has travelled far beyond Vermont. The apparition is called Emily. In the tale most often told, she waits after a romance ended in tragedy. Locals and visiting ghost hunters speak of odd sounds and figures within the narrow bridge. Its history is real and visible in the Howe-truss structure. Emily’s own biography is much less certain—and that difference has become part of this Vermont legend's remarkable history. Emily's Bridge has the qualities of a traditional roadside haunting: a recognisable crossing, a woman with a name, and a tale of unfinished love. The popular account has Emily abandoned by a sweetheart; in some versions she dies by suicide at the bridge, while other versions describe a fatal accident. Later tellers have added reports of ghostly lights, sounds, figures and frightening sensations. These are the recurring themes documented by the Vermont Historical Society and the regional travel community, not separate records of a named woman's death. There is another chapter to the story that deserves to be told. Vermont historian Jill Mudgett traced the legend back through a local bridge historian’s early-1970s work and a schoolgirl's account gathered earlier, noting that a substantially older local history discussed the bridge without a ghost. The young author of the school paper preserved several variants, including a story without a fatality. Mudgett did not locate historical records identifying a woman who died here as Emily. This does not diminish the fact that the town has passed on the haunting for decades; it shows how a ghost tale becomes a part of place identity. Some visitors enter the bridge hoping for an encounter after nightfall. Yet Gold Brook is also a living neighborhood and a working roadway. There is no official ghost hunt or authorized night investigation associated with the bridge itself. Its legend can be enjoyed without lingering in the lane, trespassing on neighboring land or disturbing the people who live there.
The History
The covered crossing dates to 1844 and is known historically as the Gold Brook or Stowe Hollow Bridge. Its wooden Howe-truss design distinguishes it among surviving Vermont bridges. The structure appears on the National Register of Historic Places and remains in use as a local road crossing. Stowe’s tourism organization celebrates the bridge for its workmanship and includes Emily's story in its heritage descriptions. The written history of the haunting emerged much later than the bridge’s construction. Vermont Public’s historical commentary in 2012 followed the local folklore backward through early-1970s accounts and distinguished the familiar tragedy from the documentary record. That chronology is significant: the tale is an established part of modern Stowe folklore without being treated as proof of a nineteenth-century death. Both the timbers and the evolving legend are now reasons people remember this little crossing.
A sense of place.
Visitor Experiences
Have you experienced something here?
This future chapter will bring together stories from the PHASM community. An unexpected encounter, a lingering feeling, or a quiet visit—your experience will be welcome.
Submissions are not open yet.
Sources & further reading.
- Go Stowe — Gold Brook Covered Bridge (history)
- Vermont Historical Society — Emily’s Bridge (history)
- Vermont Public — Jill Mudgett, Emily’s Bridge (history)
- Go Stowe — Gold Brook Covered Bridge (reports)
- Vermont Historical Society — Emily’s Bridge (reports)
- Vermont Public — Jill Mudgett, Emily’s Bridge (reports)
- Go Stowe — Gold Brook Covered Bridge (visiting)
- Town of Stowe — Traffic and Vehicles Ordinance 2023, p. 11 (visiting)
Plan Your Visit
Gold Brook Covered Bridge is a public roadway and can be viewed respectfully during an ordinary visit to Stowe. The town’s traffic ordinance prohibits parking at the Emily’s Bridge parking area between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., with other roadside restrictions. Check posted signs and municipal rules; never obstruct the bridge, stop in its traffic lane or cross onto nearby private land. There is no booked interior tour or private ghost-investigation program established for this site.