Hartland, New Brunswick

With two more days of rain in the forecast we were a little stumped about what to do on our day off. Then, Mark looked at Carolyn’s blog and saw that she and Wally had gone into Canada to do some tourist stuff that looked like fun. So we decided to hop in the truck and drive over to Canada.

Our first stop was Hartland, New Brunswick. Home of the world’s longest covered bridge.



The bridge is 1,282 feet long with seven spans.



Thank goodness we were not the first in line to go into the bridge - it’s a one way bridge and we were told it’s considered a ‘courtesy’ bridge. Which means you have to look 1,282 feet down the bridge to see if another car is coming through or ‘fixing to’ come through.


This was our first look at the bridge.




Driving through from the other side.

The bridge was officially opened July 4, 1901. It was constructed in 1901 to cross the Saint John River. It was a toll bridge with fees of 3 cents for pedestrians, 6 cents for a single horse and wagon, 12 cents for a double team.

In 1922 the bridge was covered to protect the timbers from the elements. During the winter, snow had to be hauled and placed on the floor so sleds could travel through the bridge.

It is built out of cedar spruce and hard pine, and local businessmen helped with the construction for a costs of $33,000.


Inside the bridge


The covered side walkway was added in 1945.

Carolyn had written that it was okay to write your name in the crosswalk. So we did (guess who’s name we found while we were there!).



Our next stops were the Potato Chip Factory and the Potato Museum. Come back to see more of our fun day in Canada.