GOING EAST

  On our way to our next home for a month, we visited the Grand Falls Gorge.

The dam was closed, so the Falls were limited.

Parts of the old bridge were left to create a wonderful landscape.

A glimpse of the gorge through the bridge.

Paintings on the bridge wall.

We watched several people zip line across the Gorge.

Pictures of when the falls are at their peak are quite phenomenal.  There is a legend connected with these Falls, the legend of Malabeam.  500 years ago, the Wigoudi (Saint John River) flowed over the falls.  On the banks above, the Maliseets had built a village.  At that time, the Maliseets and the Mohawks were enemies.  Sacobie and his young daughter, Malabeam, were on an island away from their tribe when the Mohawks came upon them and killed Sacobie and took Malabeam prisoner.  They promised to allow her to live if she guided them to her tribe.  She told them to keep their canoes together and she would lead them.  During the night, while they were rowing down the river, they heard a thunderous roar.  Malabeam said that it was only a torrent that joined the Wigoudi.  With a cry of triumph, she went over the falls bringing 300 Mohawks into the dark abyss of the 80 foot drop.  The bodies of the Mohawks were found but not Malabeam's.

After visiting the Gorge, we carried on thinking nothing could top that, then... we happened upon the World's Longest Covered Bridge!!!  We decided not to stop at the World's largest axe, but we did enjoy the covered bridge!

Declared a National Historic Site in 1980, and a Provincial Historic Site in 1999, the Longest Covered Bridge in the World is, like all covered bridges in New Brunswick, a “kissing bridge.” Kissing bridges date back to the years of horse and wagon traffic, when young men “trained” their horses to stop about half way across the bridge, wait while the couple shared a couple of kisses, and then continue to the other side of the bridge.

The bridge was covered in 1921-22, to considerable opposition and concern, and sermons were even preached in the area, cautioning how a “covered” bridge would destroy the morals of the young people. However, the bridge was covered anyway. For some years after, snow had to be hauled each winter and placed on the bridge floor to allow horses and sleds to travel across it.

This 390-m (1,282-ft.) bridge officially opened on July 4, 1901 and was purchased by the government of New Brunswick in 1906. Lighting was installed in 1924 and a side walkway was added to the bridge in 1945. It has suffered some incidents over the years, but it continues on, roadworthy and dependable. When constructed, it was an engineering wonder, much as the Confederation Bridge across the Westmorland Strait is today.

In 1987 the Olympic Torch for the 1988 Winter Olympics made its way across this bridge and in 1995 a Canadian postage stamp was issued honouring the bridge.