Skip to main content

Eustis Covered Bridge - Quebec

Image
By


Located near the former mining town of Eustis, the 90 foot long Eustis Covered Bridge is one of three covered bridges located in Quebec's Eastern Townships region that features a multiple Kingpost truss design. Built in 1908 over the Massawippi River at a scenic spot along Rue Stafford, the Eustis Covered Bridge is one of the last remaining remnants of the once thriving copper mining town of the same name. A century ago, the village of Eustis hosted a large mining complex, a number of company houses, general store, church, train station, and a baseball team. The covered bridge is open seasonally, from around April 15 to November 15 of any given year.

Like many covered bridges, the Eustis Covered Bridge has had a tumultuous history, having been saved from demolition during the 1990s and then later restored. After being improperly restored in 1998, the bridge was closed to traffic in 2008. Restoration to the covered bridge took place from June 2011 to November 2011, and then reopened to traffic in April 2012. The work for restoring the bridge to prime condition was completed by Hamlet Heavy Timberwork, Ltd. of Rigaud, Quebec at a cost of $596,000.

During the restoration, the bridge was hoisted off of its abutments, dismantled, and transported in pieces to an off site location. With exception of the original corner braces and some of the rafters, however, most of the truss work for the bridge was been replaced with new timber. The trusses were replaced because of a previous, poorly executed repair job some years ago which involved “cutting sections of the trusses, rendering the trusses ineffective. As a result of the restoration, the trusses were returned to their actual load bearing role, and the proper camber arch was restored to the lower chords of the structure.

I had the opportunity to visit the Eustis Covered Bridge and found a pull-off along the road near the bridge. From the pull-off, there is a short walk to the bridge and it is an easy bridge to explore.


Side profile of the Eustis Covered Bridge. There is a short trail off the bridge to get photos from the side.

Inside the covered bridge.

A headache bar has been installed to keep overheight vehicles from striking the portals of the covered bridge.

View of the north portal of the Eustis Covered Bridge.

Bridge plaque on the covered bridge, indicating the year the bridge was originally constructed.

View of the Massawippi River on a pleasant late September afternoon.


How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
Townships Heritage WebMagazine - The Return of the Eustis Bridge
Covered Bridges in Quebec - Eustis Bridge
Chemin des Cantons - Round Barns and Covered Bridges Route

Labels:
Location: Eustis, QC J0B 2C0, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hawaii Route 8930

By
Hawaii Route 8930 is a 2.5-mile State Highway on the Island of O'hau.  Hawaii Route 8930 is aligned over Kualakai Parkway over the course of its entire alignment south from Interstate H-1 to Kapolei Parkway.  Hawaii Route 8930 is one of the newest Hawaii Routes only having been completed during 2010.   This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page.  All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 8930 The history of Hawaii Route 8930 is brief given it is a modern facility.  Hawaii Route 8930 and what was known as "North-South Road" were built to facilitate the developing areas of Kapolei on western O'ahu.  According to hawaiihighways.com the first stage of Hawaii Route 8930 was completed from Kapolei Parkway north to Farrington Highway as a four-lane highway during November...
Post a Comment
Read more

Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

By
Madera County Road 607 is an approximately seven-mile rural unsurfaced highway which spans from Road 600 near Raymond west to Road 29.   Road 607 west from Raymond Road Cemetery (established in 1905) is part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road corridor surveyed in 1853. The corridor lies in the gap between Fresno Crossing at the Fresno River west to Newton's Crossing at the Chowchilla River. The Buchanan Copper Mine would be along what is now Road 607 in the namesake Buchanan Hollow during July 1863. The Buchanan Mine is thought to have once had a population of between 1,000-1,500 residents by the early 1870s. Copper prices would decline in the decade after the Civil War and much of the activity at Buchanan shifted towards cattle ranching. The last businesses in the community would shutter during World War II and it is now a true ghost town. Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road What is now Road 607 was a component of the larger Sto...
Post a Comment
Read more

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

By
Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California.  According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932.  US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley.  LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes.  The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...
3 comments
Read more