Built in 1880 by noted Vermont bridgewright Nichols M. Powers, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014, cited as one of the finest and least-altered examples of a Town lattice truss covered bridge in the United States.

The Brown Covered Bridge is set in a remote wooded ravine in northwestern Shrewsbury, about 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Rutland, Vermont.

The Brown Bridge sustained minor damage from flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, and was closed.

It was built in 1880 at a cost of less than $1100, by Nichols M. Powers, a noted Vermont bridgewright who then lived in nearby Clarendon.

Powers' most famous work, the Old Blenheim Bridge in Schoharie, New York, was destroyed by flooding caused by Irene in 2011.