Introduction: The Picture Province

August 8, 2015

New Brunswick is an often bypassed - or more correctly, passed through - region of Atlantic Canada with an abundance of beauty draped along the coastlines and hundreds of miles of rivers and streams inland. What New Brunswick also has is a healthy supply of historic covered bridges, though the number of them still standing, sadly, is ever decreasing. In Canada, only the province of Quebec has more of these bridges than New Brunswick, and Ontario is the only other province that even has an historic covered bridge. [The Keremeos Red Bridge in British Columbia is often included on lists of historic covered bridges, which is fine, but since it doesn't actually have a roof, I would argue the "covered" aspect of it.]  To be clear, I am referring to the remaining covered bridges predating modern steel and concrete spans, and not to the often equally interesting replicas and dozens of new structures to be found everywhere from golf courses and theme parks to public roads and nature trails.

Over the years living here I have developed a love of these  weathered, old bridges, and at some point in the last couple of years I started going out of my way to find covered bridges on day trips.  

Bridge locations plotted and color-coded by county.

What then happened is something I have learned has happened to many people before me: books on the topic were purchased, lists were made, maps and websites were consulted, and a systematic quest to find and visit every covered bridge in the province was undertaken.  It's not as obsessive as trainspotting, but it is on a continuum.

Blog Dog 1

 For a few of us 'ponsophiles', eventually a thought starts to burn in the mind: if I am investing such an enormous amount of time and energy in this project, perhaps I should think about doing something useful with it to share, like publishing a book or devoting a website to the subject.

So, here you behold the results at the midpoint of my odyssey: I am setting out to show off each and every one of the remaining sixty-one (as of 2015 when I began this blog) historic covered bridges and to share as much information as I am able to find about them. There is a paucity of solid historical data available in either the books I've read, or online, and a trip to the Provincial Archives will be arranged to begin work on that end of things in the future.  I have already been in contact with an archivist, and she has done some research and prepared me a list of material to start with.

Blog Dog 2

Most of my bridge-seeking adventures have included the company of at least one of my nearest and dearest humans, but, if I've set out on my own, the dogs have been stalwart co-expeditioners. We're having a lot of fun with this project and I will be sad when the time comes to check off the last bridge on my list.  

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As I begin this blog, I have visited/revisited 43 of the bridges in the last two years (though, as you will see, I must go back to many of them to get better photographs). Almost all the remaining bridges on my to-see list are in Carleton, Charlotte, and Madawaska counties, and since I am in the southeast, my life schedule dictates that I put things on hold until next spring and summer to make trips to see them. Lots to look forward to. 

As an aid to finding the bridges, some of which are far off the beaten track, I have embedded Google maps on each bridge's page which can be zoomed in to the exact location of the bridge - no getting messed around with incorrect GPS instructions - then zoomed out to find the preferred route(s) to get to them.

Please note also, that if you click on any of the pictures, they will open to a larger view.