{"id":18221,"date":"2016-11-05T13:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-11-05T17:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=18221"},"modified":"2020-03-26T03:49:09","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T07:49:09","slug":"powerscourt-home-to-canadas-oldest-covered-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2016\/11\/05\/powerscourt-home-to-canadas-oldest-covered-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerscourt, home to Canada’s oldest covered bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Looking<\/a>

Looking east across the Powerscourt\/Percy Bridge. A Quebec provincial police patrol car is approaching. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

The Chateaugay River begins in the northern Adirondacks and flows north into Quebec where it takes on a French accent and becomes the Chateauguay<\/em> River.\u00a0 Just north of the border, the river flows through the tiny hamlet of Powerscourt where it passes under the oldest covered bridge in Canada. Also known as the Percy Bridge, it was built in 1860, but it\u2019s unique for more than its 156 years of getting people, goods, and vehicles across the river on the First Concession of the towns of Hinchinbrooke and Elgin.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

The Powerscourt Bridge is the only non-railroad bridge in the world using the McCallum inflexible arched truss design.\u00a0 It was developed by Daniel McCallum, a Scottish-born American engineer for the New York and Erie Railroad, and superintendent of railroads for the Union side in the Civil War.<\/p>\n

The southwestern corner of Quebec between the Canada-U.S. border and the St. Lawrence River\u00a0is a unique blend of French and English heritage. English Loyalists settled there after the American War of Independence and French Canadians settled nearby in New York to farm. Powerscourt was once a much busier place and had a small power station that generated electricity for surrounding area.<\/p>\n

Today, there are just a few houses, a church with no regular services or minister, and a Scouts Canada camp.\u00a0 The Percy\/Powerscourt Bridge was designated a National Historic Site in 1984.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Chateauguay River flows toward the Powerscourt Bridge. The river enters Canada about three miles upstream. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The south side of the bridge from the west bank of the river. The bridge has cut stone abutments and piers. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Inside<\/a>

Inside the bridge. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The<\/a>

The graffiti inside the bridge is remarkably wholesome and is mostly composed of innocent romantic proclamations. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Looking<\/a>

Looking downstream (north) from the bridge in Powerscourt. The Chateauguay River flows north from there and into the St. Lawrence River. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Downtown<\/a>

“Downtown” Powerscourt, looking north on the Athelstan Road.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Powerscourt<\/a>

Powerscourt United Church, built in 1825. There’s an old cemetery surrounding it. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Inside<\/a>

Inside Powerscourt United Church. Photo: James Morgan<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chateaugay River begins in the northern Adirondacks and flows north into Quebec where it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[880,16994,7,1124],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18221"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22038,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18221\/revisions\/22038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}