GUILFORD – For nearly 20 years, the dated wooden sign had been tucked away in a garage, its significance known only to a few people.

The sign, which bears only the number “1857,” had been displayed on Low’s Covered Bridge to mark the year of its construction until the wooden bridge was washed away during a major flood in 1987.

That sign surfaced about a week ago when an unidentified man arrived at Trebor Inn in Guilford and told owner Robert Shaffer, Guilford Historical Society president, that he had something for him. He then pulled out the weathered sign.

“It’s closure for us,” said society member Bill Hume of Guilford, who along with Dwinal Hall of Sangerville gathered Thursday at the inn to look at the long-lost sign.

Both Hume and Hall, who were instrumental through a petition drive in getting the covered bridge rebuilt after the flood, had spent years scouring the Piscataquis Riverbank for the artifact.

According to Shaffer, the man who paid him the recent visit explained that his brother had found the sign on a piece of the wood that had become snagged along the riverbed during the flood. The relative removed the dated sign and kept it as a souvenir. When he moved to the coast, the sign went with him.

Worried that the sign would fall into the hands of someone who would be unaware of its significance, the owner was convinced to donate the salvaged piece of the bridge to the historical society, Shaffer was told.

Society members now hope, with permission from the Maine Department of Transportation, that the sign can be framed with wood and be mounted on the existing bridge.

For Hall, who was born in the only home located on the Sangerville side of the bridge and who for years made daily trips back and forth through the span’s darkened chamber, the gift was like a homecoming.

“I’m glad. It’s just something I wanted to see returned,” Hall said.