Wakefield Covered Bridge

Wakefield is a village in the Gatineau hills about 35 km. north of Ottawa.  The  wonderful combination of  northern landscape and artistic and engaged community would be a good fit for me, but I have resisted that call all these years to meet my family and business responsibilities here in the city.  I manage to get up there more often in the winter to cross country ski that through the summer, but felt the need to visit this weekend.

In 1984, shortly after I moved to Ottawa, the covered bridge over the Gatineau River burned down.  The province replaced it with an eminently more practical and functional high speed steel and concrete structure, but the community still felt an emotional loss.  There was nothing else to be done but raise the funds, form work parties and replace the 1915 wooden structure.   Old log boom logs were sawed for structural bridge timber and  'town lattice' walls were constructed.  The roof and pine sides followed to keep structure  dry and lengthen the life of the bridge. The new, old bridge, was opened in1997.