Burpee Covered Bridge: New Brunswick’s Historic Kissing Landmark

New Brunswick's Burpee Covered Bridge, a 1912-1913 'kissing bridge,' offers a nostalgic journey. These hidden wooden structures provided privacy for romantic gestures, a tradition now marked by graffiti from modern grads.

Fair alerting however. Getting to the Burpee Bridge feels like tipping via a time portal to the days of a bygone era. It would not appear out of place if a personality from a Lucy Maud Montgomery unique suddenly sprang to life on the two-lane Gaspereau Road.

The reason for the vibrant, smooch-worthy nickname isn’t hard to figure out: protected from the gaze of sightseers, horse-and-carriage bikers might delight in a few brief moments of marvelous privacy while going through, which meant a quick possibility for some kissy-kissy action with your primary squeeze prior to getting to the opposite.

The Allure of Kissing Bridges

But this is Atlas Obscura, not Goodreads, so we’ll have to discuss the developer of Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley some other time. When it comes to the Burpee Covered Bridge, how much time has it stood in the New Brunswick countryside?

Drive through the dark bridge a pair times when you get right here. In your hatchback, pick-up, or ev, lean over to that special somebody and show some affection. You’ll be re-enacting what generations before you did on the kissing bridges of New Brunswick.

Locating the Iconic Burpee Bridge

A fine instance of these engineering throwbacks is the ever-so beautiful, 50-metre-long Burpee Covered Bridge at Gaspeareau Forks. Set back simply sufficient from the primary freeway to feel concealed, the site is 10 mins from the neighboring village of Chipman and about an hour from the provincial funding of Fredericton.

In 2026, colourful markings on the vaulted interior indicate a new moonlight custom. High school grads have clearly taken to embellishing the rafters and wood wall surfaces, graffiti-style, with their names and various other vibrant signs of their unscripted visualizing. Anxiety not though, the art work hardly diminishes the bridge’s appeal and appeal.

Signs at the website today plainly dates the bridge to the year 1913. Old paper trimmings, nevertheless, recommend the bridge was already in use by the summertime of 1912.

Legacy and Modern Traditions

In their prime time, “covered bridges” had not been the only term people made use of to determine the river-crossing extends. In preferred parlance, “kissing bridges” became the best expression instead. Especially among young pairs.

Back when shows and tell of affection were more forbidden, protected bridges appeared in every edge of the district of New Brunswick. Constructed mainly in the early 1900s and late 1800s, the wooden, roofed frameworks aided vacationers and farmers obtain securely from one side of a river to the other, also in the snowy, rough winters of days gone by.

Showing up at the Burpee Bridge really feels like tipping with a time portal to the days of a bygone age. Old paper cuttings, however, recommend the bridge was currently in usage by the summer of 1912. When you get right here, drive via the dark bridge a couple times. You’ll be re-enacting what generations prior to you did on the kissing bridges of New Brunswick.