Indefinite closure of Wheaton Covered Bridge brings up fond memories and current concerns
Hear this story on Tantramar Report:
Phyllis Wheaton can remember driving through the Wheaton Covered Bridge with her parents, always honking the horn. It’s a longstanding tradition in New Brunswick’s covered bridges. “Everybody honks the horn going through the bridge, because you can’t see if there’s somebody on the other side,” says Wheaton.
The Wheaton Covered Bridge on High Marsh Road is one of about 56 historic covered bridges left in the province. According to the Tantramar Heritage Trust, the current bridge was built more than a hundred years ago, around 1916. But now its future is in question.
On July 11, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) closed the Wheaton bridge to all traffic, citing public safety concerns. The department says that during a recent annual inspection, DTI workers discovered “significant structural issues” in the bridge, which caused the immediate closure. DTI says that its bridge staff are still conducting further evaluation of the bridge and there is currently no timeline for its reopening.
Phyllis Wheaton and her sister Mary Fawcett not only have nostalgia for the bridge, but they rely on it. Wheaton is one of many farmers who uses the bridge to bring cattle to and from the Tantramar Community Pasture, and Fawcett cuts hay every year on her plot of marsh near the bridge.… Continue
New book documents life of Sackville’s foundries in time for 170th and 150th anniversaries
If you had told Susan Amos three years ago that she would end up writing the book on the Sackville foundries, she would not have believed you. “I would have said, what exactly is a foundry?” says Amos with a laugh. “But I ended up doing it.”
Amos is launching Foundries of Sackville, NB this Saturday with a slide presentation and talk at town hall at 2pm. The book is already available for purchase through the Tantramar Heritage Trust.
Part of Amos’s inspiration for documenting the foundries was her family connection: a great uncle was hired by Charles Fawcett in the early 1900s as a designer for the foundry. And when she found out there were no books published on the town’s manufacturing stalwarts, she decided to get to work. “They were a major employer in our town for years,” says Amos. “Eight generations of employees, thousands and thousands of workers, and no books. So I wanted to have a book so that we don’t lose this part of our heritage.”
The publication of Foundries of Sackville is timed to coincide with celebrations this year of the 170th anniversary of the Fawcett Foundry and the 150th anniversary of the Enterprise Foundry.
Listen to Susan Amos talk foundries on Tantramar Report:
Amos says, “it took a village” to write the book.… Continue
Wednesday on TR: Dorchester’s Bill Steele talks heritage buildings and Sackville’s Wood Block
On today’s Tantramar Report:
We feature a conversation with Dorchester’s Bill Steele.
A transplant from Toronto and heritage building enthusiast, Steele bought the Dorchester Jail in 2017 and now operates it as an AirBnB. Last March, Steele took a tour of the Wood Block building on Bridge Street in Sackville, home to local restaurants, apartments, and the old Imperial Theatre. As we wait on news of a possible sale of the Wood Block, we check in with Steele to hear about his experience of the building and his thoughts on heritage properties in the Tantramar region.
Plus, more local news and information:
14 known active cases at Mount Allison, rapid test reporting explodes in province
14 people in the Mount Allison community have self-reported active cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday morning.
In an update published online, the university says that four of the cases are on-campus and 10 are off-campus, and that all cases are managing symptoms at home.
The university is asking anyone in the community who tests positive to report their result to the school’s vaccination and testing verification clerk, in addition to reporting it online to the government of New Brunswick.
Since January 3, 38 cases have been self-reported to Mount Allison, according to the university. Mount Allison says it will provide a weekly campus and community COVID-19 update every Tuesday.… Continue