An 1878 Howe-truss covered bridge over Stonelick Creek near Milford and Owensville, the last in Clermont County, tied to a 'hanging man' apparition and the wider 'Peaceful Valley' legend.
Stonelick-Williams Corner Road (over Stonelick Creek), Milford, OH 45150
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
A public road bridge; free to view and cross. It is a quiet rural area, so be considerate of nearby residents and traffic.
Access
Limited Access
Rural road over a creek; gravel shoulders and an active single-lane bridge with an 8-ton weight limit.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1878 · Built 1878; the last surviving covered bridge in Clermont County · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, September 10, 1974 · Rebuilt and reopened February 1, 2015, after a 2014 collapse during repairs
The Stonelick Covered Bridge, also called the Perintown Covered Bridge, was built in 1878 as a 140-foot Howe through-truss structure carrying Stonelick-Williams Corner Road over Stonelick Creek in Stonelick Township, Clermont County, Ohio. It lies in the rural countryside roughly six and a half miles east of Milford, near Owensville, and is the last surviving covered bridge in Clermont County.
The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 10, 1974, recognizing both its age and its rarity as the county's sole remaining covered span. In 2014 the historic structure suffered major damage and partially collapsed during repair work; it was rebuilt and reopened on February 1, 2015, with an 8-ton weight limit to protect the restored timbers.
Beyond its engineering history, the bridge has long been a fixture of regional folklore. The surrounding area is known in local legend as 'Peaceful Valley,' and the bridge is a frequent stop on lists of haunted Ohio bridges compiled by regional outlets including Creepy Cincinnati, the Ohio Exploration Society, and OnlyInYourState. The documented history of the bridge is well established; the paranormal stories attached to it are folklore, repeated across multiple independent regional sources rather than confirmed events.
Sources
The signature Stonelick Covered Bridge legend is the 'hanging man.' As the story goes, a driver who stops on the bridge near its single window, shuts off the engine, and flashes the headlights three times will glimpse the apparition of a man hanging by his neck in the trees, and the car will supposedly refuse to start until the figure vanishes.
The bridge sits within a broader cluster of stories tied to the area locals call 'Peaceful Valley.' Accounts describe cult members or 'devil worshippers' who chase trespassers out of the valley after dark, sometimes said to follow in a dark truck, and a nearby haunted farmhouse where the number of lit windows always matches the number of people in your car. Regional folklore writers treat these as classic Ohio backroad legends.
None of the paranormal claims are historically documented, and they should be read as living folklore rather than recorded events. What is firmly established is the bridge itself: a genuine 1878 covered bridge on the National Register, repeatedly featured in regional haunted-place coverage, which keeps the stories alive from one generation of late-night visitors to the next.
View and cross the last surviving covered bridge in Clermont County, a photogenic 1878 Howe-truss span over Stonelick Creek that anchors the 'Peaceful Valley' and 'hanging man' legends.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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