Welcome to Kings County,

New Brunswick!

The Covered Bridge Capital of

Atlantic Canada

      There are several wives' tales as to the reason bridges were built with a cover, including safeguarding livestock when crossing the water or scaring off evil spirits. Not so. The bridges were covered for one reason - to keep the sun and rain from the massive working timbers. The alternate wetting and drying out of uncovered wooden structures would have resulted in rot and failure decades sooner. In fact, an uncovered wooden bridge had a life expectancy of 10-15 years, while a covered one could last more than 80 years.

     Most of these bridges were built around the turn of the century and are surrounded by folklore, legends and family yarns. Known as "kissing bridges," they were a popular place to stop and sneak a hug or a kiss while courting.

Covered bridges from the horse's point of view

    People weren't the only creatures to appreciate the benefits of a roof and walls over a bridge span. The horses drawing the wagons and carriages must have also enjoyed the sense of safety they provided.

    Horses are not fond of passing through water, especially rushing streams and rivers. As a prey animal, they prefer to see what they are stepping on. They are nervous about not seeing the bottom of the streambed in case something lies waiting to pounce on them from beneath. Combine this nervousness with the vibrations created as the wooden wheels crossed the wooden spans, and many horses simply refused to cross an open wooden bridge. Having walls between themselves and the rushing waters helps allay that fear.

    Covered bridges also resemble old fashioned barns, so there was a familiar sense of the horse's stables about them. The brief respite from the elements the roof provided made them even more appealing to horse and driver.

    Indeed, the Sussex region has been lucky that much of its heritage has been preserved. Flood, fire, modernization, insensitive highway engineers and "old-time governments" have taken their toll on covered bridges in New Brunswick. In 1944, the province had 320 covered bridges. Today only 64 remain. Somehow, the 16 covered bridges in the Kings County area, have managed to survive. In recent years, the powers-that-be have also awakened to the bridges' historic and tourism value. While the Province has no plans to rebuild a covered bridge if it is destroyed, provincial engineers have elected to upgrade, maintain and save the bridges whenever possible.

    Romance is also part of the bridges glorious past. A common nickname for these treasures is the "Kissing' Bridges", which was derived from the exploits of young male suitors to steal a kiss from their sweethearts. It is said that enterprising young suitors would train their horses to stop in the shelter of the covered bridges in the evenings. A good horse would know to continue through in daylight - a habit that was especially helpful on Sunday mornings when young men and their families would be heading off to church.

    The ingenious way the old bridges were fitted together becomes apparent as soon as you pass through one of their portals. There, under the protecting roof, on either side, are the posts and crisscrossed braces extending from top to bottom "chord" (the chords are the heavy beams parallel to the line of the roadway.) The planks of the floor are supported by the bottom chord in the typical covered bridge, which makes it a "through truss" structure.

    Large beams of Douglas fir were brought in from British Columbia for bridge construction. It was preferred to native species because of its strength and resistance to rot. The choice flooring material was good old N.B. black spruce. The sides of the bridges were boarded in with whatever wood was plentiful, mostly hemlock, while the preferred choice for the roofing was cedar shingles.

   The strict enforcement of having travelers walk their horses over a covered bridge comes from the belief the tempo of a trotting or cantering horse would create a standing wave among the bridge timbers. This reverberation was thought to be strong enough to reduce a bridge to a pile of rubble in the stream bed it crossed.

   There was an unexpected side effect of this rule, as young courting couples happily obliged, taking their leisurely time passing through the structures. The cool darkness was a ready alibi and the bridges quickly became known as "kissing bridges."

   Hartland’s covered bridge, with its 1,282 feet, caused an uproar among the community’s citizens as it was built as they conjured up vivid images about what might transpire within its walls. A petition was circulated in an attempt to keep the span uncovered under the premise that a covered bridge "would seriously jeopardize the morals of the young people of Hartland."

   However, as the world famous structure stands in mute testimony today, the walls and roof were added after all. As one official noted: "If the morals of the young people are so badly bent that it only requires a covered bridge to break them completely, there is little we, as the government, can do."

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