National Historic Site
Which site was the heritage designation of Hartland Covered Bridge from Nov 1977 to Sep 1999?
Hartland Covered Bridge The Hartland Covered Bridge in Hartland , New Brunswick , is the worlds longest covered bridge , at long . It crosses the Saint John River from Hartland to Somerville , New Brunswick , Canada . The framework consists of seven small Howe Truss bridges joined together on six piers . History . Before the bridge , the only way to cross the Saint John River was by ferry . Plans and specifications of the bridge began in 1898 and the bridge was constructed in 1901 by the Hartland Bridge Company . On May 13 , 1901 , Dr . Estey was the first person to cross the bridge before its scheduled opening , because he had to respond to an emergency call . Workers placed planks on the bridge so he could drive across the bridge . It was finally inaugurated by Justice McKeowan on July 4 , 1901 before a crowd of 2,000 people . It was funded by tolls until it was purchased by the provincial government on May 1 , 1906 . The bridge was not originally built covered . A fire in 1907 burnt some of the structure and nearly destroyed the toll house . The tolls had been removed earlier that year . On April 6 , 1920 , two spans of the bridge collapsed due to river ice . The bridge reopened in 1922 after construction to repair the structure , at which time the bridge was also covered , despite some local opposition . The wooden piers were also converted to concrete . A pedestrian walkway was added to the bridge in 1945 . In 1966 , vandals attempted to burn the bridge down . In 1970 , heavy trucks were barred from crossing the bridge . The bridge was declared a National Historic Site in 1980 , and a Provincial Historic Site in 1999 . In 1982 , the bridge was again closed for repairs after a car struck a steel beam , causing part of the bridge to drop . The bridge was reopened to traffic on February 10 , 1983 . In 2006 , the town of Hartland contributed a small piece of wood from the bridge to the Six String Nation project . Part of this material now serves as one of the reinforcing strips on the interior of Voyageur , the guitar at the heart of the project . In the winter of 2007 , the bridge was closed due to the central beam splitting down the middle . It has since been reopened after repairs were carried out . On July 4 , 2012 , in honour of its 111th anniversary , it was celebrated with a Google Doodle on Googles Canadian homepage . Legends . When the bridge was mostly used by horse and wagon , couples would stop half-way across to share a kiss . The first wedding on the bridge was celebrated in September 1992 between Charmaine Laffoley and Dana Hunt from Toronto . It is thought by some locals to be good luck to hold ones breath the entire way across while driving . Characteristics . Location . The bridge is situated in Southeastern Canada , in the western part of New Brunswick , between the municipality of Hartland to the east and the local service district of Somerville , in Carleton County , New Brunswick . Oriented west-southwest to east-northeast , it is used by a small route connecting New Brunswick routes 103 and 105 that crosses the Saint John River just south of the island of Middle Becaguimec . Since the construction of the Hugh John Flemming Bridge in 1960 used by New Brunswick Route 130 one kilometre to the north , the Hartland bridge is now used exclusively for local and tourist traffic . Dimensions . The Hartland Bridge has a length of , which makes it the longest covered bridge in the world . It is also the longest covered bridge ever constructed in Canada , the second-longest being a long bridge on the Batiscan river in Quebec , in use between 1844 and 1870 . On the other hand , several other , longer , covered bridges have existed in the past elsewhere in the world , notably the Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge in Pennsylvania , constructed in 1814 and measuring in length , crossing the Susquehanna River until its destruction in 1863 during the American Civil War . The Hartland Bridge has only one lane and only permits passage to vehicles having a mass lower than 10 tonnes and a height lower than . A small gallery , also covered and permitting access to pedestrians , is attached on the South side of the bridge .