Return of the Covered Bridge
By Sarah Marchildon
Telegraph
Journal staff writer
FREDERICTON -
Destroyed by fire, claimed by flooding and victim of the relentless pounding of
heavy traffic, New Brunswick's covered bridges are quickly disappearing.
Once home to the tread of horses' hooves across wooden
floorboards and the secret kisses of couples strolling hand-in-hand through the
dark privacy, only 66 covered bridges are left in the province.
In 1944, New Brunswick had 320 covered bridges.
Roofed over to make them last longer, the bridges are a
distinctive feature of the New Brunswick land scape and serve to stir up
imagines of a simpler life.
Alton Bubar was born long
after the covered bridge in Nashwaak Bridge was torn down after neglect led to
its deterioration.
But he wants to bring back a wooden
reminder of the bygone age of horse-drawn carriage rides along dirt roads.
Mr. Bubar and 10 other Nashwaak Bridge residents came
together more than a year ago to discuss the idea of converting the community's
old rail way bridge into a 21-metre-long covered bridge.
They agreed to strike a volunteer committee, naming the group
the Nashwaak Bridge Development Association.
Discussions
were followed by months of selling chocolate bars, lobbying local businesses
and knocking on doors to raise enough money to build the bridge.
Tomorrow night, the group will publicly announce plans to
build a covered bridge crossing the Nashwaak River with construction set to
begin as soon as next week.
Mr. Bubar, the association's
chair- man, said the citizens of Nashwaak Bridge want to restore a sense of
history to their community.
"It brings back that by-gone
era," he said.
The new covered bridge, expected to be
completed in July 1999, will become part of the Scenic New Brunswick Trail and
will be open to pedestrians and cyclists.
At one time
Nashwaak Bridge was an important farming and logging community. Today, farming
and logging make up only a small part of its character.
Recently, the community has lost its train station, its
hockey rink as well as its school.
Building a covered
bridge will help rejuvenate Nashwaak Bridge and attract tourists to the area,
said Mr. Bubar.
"The thing is they're rare," he said of
New Brunswick's covered bridges.
"You don't see that
now." Lee Robichaud, one of the Nashwaak Bridge Development Association's
directors, said the entire community came together to bring the covered bridge
idea to life.
"Without the community support I don't
think we could have done it," he said.
Mr. Robichaud said
a few people remember there was once a covered bridge in Nashwaak Bridge.
"It's a little touch of the past coming back to life," he
said.
