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History General

No Faster than a Walk

The Covered Bridges of New Brunswick

by (author) Stephen Gillis & John Gillis

Publisher
Goose Lane Editions
Initial publish date
Jan 1997
Category
General, Public, Commercial & Industrial
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780864921956
    Publish Date
    Jan 1997
    List Price
    $21.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780864920911
    Publish Date
    Jan 1988
    List Price
    $24.95

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Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Description

A new release of a perennial favourite! No Faster Than a Walk: The Covered Bridges of New Brunswick has been the definitive book on the subject for nine years, and the updated edition continues the tradition. With text, pictures, and engineering drawings, No Faster Than a Walk explains how New Brunswick's covered bridges were built, and it brims with anecdotes about the people who constructed and used them. The covered bridge at Hartland, the longest in the world, almost wasn't covered. The townspeople understood the term "kissing bridge" all too well, and they feared that covering the bridge would encourage their young folks to go astray. But practicality won the day: "If the morals of the young people are so badly bent that it only requires a covered bridge to break them completely, there is little we, as the Government, can do about the matter." No Faster Than a Walk includes the plans for this famous bridge, as well as new and old photos. "No faster than a walk" was the speed limit for horses crossing covered bridges. Many were demolished to make way for modern ones, and others have fallen to vandalism. John Gillis's photos document bridges still in existence in the early 1980s, and archival photos show the craftsmanship and beauty of those that have vanished. A dramatic photo in No Faster Than a Walk captures the growing shell of the Colter Transplant Bridge just before it collapsed into the water, a victim of Halloween arsonists. Many of the 67 bridges that remain today are pictured in No Faster Than a Walk, and a map tells explorers where to find them.

About the authors

Brothers Stephen and John Gillis grew up near the site of the Red Bank Covered Bridge, which burned in 1953. Stephen Gillis is the principal of Rothesay Elementary School in Rothesay, New Brunswick, and John Gillis is a freelance photographer in Wilmot, Nova Scotia.

Stephen Gillis' profile page

Brothers Stephen and John Gillis grew up near the site of the Red Bank Covered Bridge, which burned in 1953. Stephen Gillis is the principal of Rothesay Elementary School in Rothesay, New Brunswick, and John Gillis is a freelance photographer in Wilmot, Nova Scotia.

John Gillis' profile page