FINDS IN BADDECK, NOVA SCOTIA

In 1980, my family and I took a delightful vacation tour of Nova Scotia which included a two day stay at a bed and breakfast farmstead near Baddeck. On our way to the farm we crossed an old truss bridge on the Baddeck River which still had a builder’s plate on the cross beam. I mentioned to my wife that this looks like the kind of bridge that my great grandfather’s company used to make. We stopped to look at the plate and lo and behold, the plate read” Built by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio, 1883’. We were amazed and delighted. This was the first evidence we had of the life work of Zenas King and his sons. Earlier this year, Blair Morrow, an enthusiast of old bridges living in Baddeck, sent us information on a number of bridges the King Bridge Company built in the area, some of which are still in use. Blair sent us pictures of two of the Kings, one of which, the Church Bridge, appears to be the bridge we crossed in 1980. The other, the elegant Red bridge looks to be in fine shape and still has the decorative spires on its end posts. These spires appear to be the same design as appears on page 34 of the King Bridge Standards Catalogue called “standard hip ornaments”.

The Church Bridge in Baddeck 1980                         The Church Bridge 2005

The Red Bridge – Baddeck

Photos courtesy of Blair Morrow (email address is bmorrow@jacqueswhitford.com)