By Cherie DeLory

The Bridges of Kings County

While browsing in a bookstore about 15 years ago, a copy of Robert James Waller’s best-selling romance novel, The Bridges of Madison County, caught my eye. It was the picture of the quaint, rustic wooden covered bridge on the cover that was intriguing.

In the book, when National Geographic photographer, Robert Kinkaid, on assignment to shoot the bridges of Madison County in Iowa, hands a bouquet of wildflowers to a local farmer’s wife after she brings him to Roseman Bridge, the setting for romance is undeniable.

Fondly nicknamed "kissing bridges", covered bridges have long been associated with romance. At the time they were built, in the mid 1800s and early 1900s, the horse and buggy was a popular mode of transportation. Men would train their horses to conveniently stop while under the bridge so they could seize a private moment for romance, sheltered by the wood beam walls and A-lined roof. In reality, the bridges were not constructed this way with romance in mind. It was solely to protect the raw lumber from rotting. An uncovered bridge, exposed to the elements, would last only 10 to 15 years, whereas a covered one was estimated to last 80 to 100 years.

In 1944 there were 320 covered bridges in New Brunswick. Today, 64 remain. Kings County, in central New Brunswick, is considered the covered bridge capital of Atlantic Canada, with 16 of the wooden beam structures dotting the quiet, rolling country road landscape in and around the towns of Sussex, Hampton, Rothesay, Quispamsis, and Norton.

You may wish to plan your bridging expedition around the 7th Annual Kings County Covered Bridge Festival, happening July 8-12. There’s an opportunity to see the bridges from another vantage point, from the water while paddling in a canoe. Historic trail rides in a horse and buggy, just as it was done in past centuries, as well as cycling tours are popular options to see the bridges. Year round, Broadleaf Farm Guest Ranch, near the village of Riverside-Albert, about an hour’s drive southeast of Sussex, offers trail rides and horse and buggy rides through the Shepody Covered Bridge. And, if you want to put your legs to work and cycle the bridges of Kings County, Outdoor Elements, a bike shop in Sussex, offers tours both during the festival and seasonally, as does Eastwind Cycle. There are 10 Km, 33 Km and 80 km self-guided tours.

It is said covered bridges have the power to grant wishes. Horse-and-buggy passengers would shut their eyes, raise their feet and hold their breath for the length of the bridge. This may have proved to be a challenge when crossing the Hartland Bridge, the province’s longest covered bridge, and the longest in the world. It spans 1, 282 feet over the St. John River, and is located in Hartland, off route 2 (Trans Canada Highway), between routes 103 and 105.

Newtown resident, Bob Alston, is president of the Covered Bridge Preservation Association for the province. He has made preserving these bridges and showcasing them to the world his passion. He is responsible for the development of the new Covered Bridge Visitor Information Centre and launched the Kings County Covered Bridge Festival in 2003. As a youngster, raised on the family farm in Newtown, where he and his wife live today, a couple of miles from the Oldfields Covered Bridge, Bob remembers traveling through three covered bridges on his way into Sussex to shop.

Many years later, Bob would find the existence of these same bridges threatened. First, in 1975, the Department of Transportation tore down the Windgap Bridge, deeming it unsafe, then in 1978 the Malone Bridge was burnt in a Halloween prank. In 1982, when the DOT announced it would replace Salmon Bridge, Alston said enough is enough, recognizing that part of the area’s heritage was being destroyed. He and a small group of locals formed an association called the Salmon River Covered Bridge Park Association, and successfully lobbied the government for two years to keep the bridge standing.

“You know, our heritage is very important,” says Alston. “I know a lot of people don’t understand that. In today’s world, you know, it’s got to be new and it’s got to be flashy. But people come from all over the world to look at this bridge (Salmon Bridge) and other bridges in our province. You take all the bridges away and you’re going to take away thousands of people who are interested in covered bridges.”

Salmon is unique, not only because it was the first bridge that Bob successfully fought to save, but also because its convenient location at exit 195 on Hwy 1, one km west of the exit on route 890, means that tourists can find the bridge easily. Also, because this bridge is closed to traffic and designated as a park, it is a popular picnic spot, with canoeing and fishing on the Kennebecasis River.

There have even been a few weddings held here. Michelle Simpson and Bruce Seeley of Sussex exchanged wedding vows at the Salmon Covered Bridge on July 5, 2003. The bride said she was looking for somewhere a little different to hold the ceremony, and the romance of a covered bridge made for a unique and beautiful celebration.

Another couple who enjoyed a romantic evening under the rooftop of the Salmon Covered Bridge is Arleen and Clyde Bradley of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The 80 year-old couple has seen well over 850 covered bridges since the bug bit back in 1977. Approximately 1500 remain worldwide. Their first trip to New Brunswick was in 1997. They returned in 2003 to take in the first annual Kings County Covered Bridge Festival. A highlight of the festival was dinner and dancing in the Salmon Covered Bridge. It was the first and only time the globetrotting “bridgers” had ever eaten or danced in a covered bridge, making it a romantic and memorable occasion.

Arleen and her husband, Clyde have travelled on covered bridge safaris in the United States with another couple, Mary Ann Waller and her husband, Bob, from Fenton Missouri. Mary Ann and Arleen met at the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival in Rockville, Indiana, in 1990 and have been close friends ever since. Mary Ann recalls the first time she saw a covered bridge.

“Back in 1985 I saw a picture in our local newspaper about the Sandy Creek Bridge. And I said I want to see that bridge. It was one of those lovely, cold, delicious winter days and there was a lot of outcropping of ice around so it was very picturesque. There was a lady sitting in the snow with her easel, painting it. And I thought, oh, how beautiful. And that’s the first bridge I saw. And that to me was the ultimate in peace, tranquility, and quietness.”

If you’re ambitious, it is possible to see all 16 covered bridges in the Kings County area in one day by car. Eight of them are within a 10-minute drive from downtown Sussex. Vanessa Packman, past secretary of the Kings County Tourism Association and vice-president of the Kings County Covered Bridge Festival from 2003-2005, says it’s an ideal way to take in the sights.

“You get to see a lot of the side roads, and visit some of the treasures you might not otherwise know are there,” says Vanessa. “The old country store in Bloomfield, for instance. At different points along the way, you can hop across the rivers on the free cable ferries. These five-minute crossings let you enjoy the valleys from a whole different angle. It's something you don't experience very often, and is icing on an already great trip."

The eight bridges within a 10-minute drive from downtown Sussex are Salmon, (located at Four Corners), Plumweseep (at Plumweseep Road), Tranton (at Roachville Road.), Urney and Moores Mill (both in Waterford, near Poley Mountain, a popular ski hill), Oldfields (in Newtown) (Oldfields Bridge appears on a 1992 commemorative quarter.), Centreville (Berwick area, west of Sussex) and McFarlane (Wards Creek, south of Sussex).

The covered bridges will often have more than one name. Officially, a bridge is named after the river it crosses and/or the owner of the land on which it was built. If several bridges cross the same river, they are numbered. For example, the Kennebecasis River No. 9 was the ninth covered bridge from the mouth of the river, but is also known as Plumweseep Bridge, named after the Micmac and Maliseet Indians who blazed the portage trails in the area. Tranton and Oldfields Bridge are named after their original landowners, but are also known as Smith Creek #1 and Smith Creek #5 consecutively.

Should you want to explore the scenic upper Fundy Coast, an hour’s drive southeast of Sussex will take you to Point Wolfe Bridge in Fundy National Park, Albert County. Point Wolfe Bridge is New Brunswick’s only painted bridge. Its beautiful red colour is in sharp contrast to all the weathered board bridges in the province.

Two other bridges worth seeing are Hardscabble and Vaughn Creek Bridge, in the coastal village of St. Martins, in St. John County, about a 45-minute drive southwest of Sussex. Look for the picture-postcard red house, perched between the bridges. Oh, and be sure to say hi to the owner of the red house. He doesn’t mind conversing with the tourists, and wouldn’t dream of moving. “No money in the world can get me to move away from here,” says Donald Brian McIntyre. “I see the changing tides every day.”

“They’re historic, they’re romantic, they’re very picturesque, and they are there 24/7, 365 days”, says Vanessa Packman of the bridges. “So you can enjoy them [at any time]. And that’s why there is a group of us who are really pushing for their preservation.”