The world’s longest covered bridge is in Hartland, New Brunswick. It is 1282 feet long, or almost 400 metres long. It wasn’t covered when it was first built in 1901, it was an exposed wooden bridge set on stone-filled wooden piers. The stones came from the fields of local farmers who needed the bridge to get their crops and animals to market on the other side of the Saint John River, where the railway was located.
The government refused to pay for the much-needed bridge because it had just built a steel bridge 20 kilometres away. So, villagers needed to raise money through public bonds to pay for the nearly $30,000 dollar price tag – an astronomical sum at the time.
The bridge deteriorated from ice, snow, manure, and sun exposure until the First World War, when fixes were only temporary due to a lack of resources. Residents demanded a steel bridge, but settled for an upgraded wooden bridge when the government promised to pay for it. It was moved 20 metres onto new concrete piers and finally covered in wood in 1921.
