Prud’homme Bridge and the Root Cellar

Vestiges of a bygone era, covered bridges have become historical monuments at the heart of our rural territory. Of the 1,200 covered bridges in Quebec a century ago, only 91 remain, six of which are in the Laurentians. Brébeuf bridge, designated a heritage building in 2019 by the municipality, is one of them.

Built in six weeks at a cost of $6,000, it was originally baptized “Armistice bridge”, as construction ended on November 11, 1918, the day of declaration of the end of World War I. 

It subsequently became David bridge, then Prud’homme bridge, in 1957, to honour one of Brébeuf’s founding families. After all, Alphonse Prud’homme packed snow on the bridge for 40 years to allow sleds to pass through! The wood structure is 45 metres (148 feet) long and straddles the Rivière du Diable. It replaced the other methods used until that point to connect the two banks: flat-bottomed boats and an ice bridge in the winter. 

The wood structure is 45 metres (148 feet) long and straddles the Rivière du Diable. It replaced the other methods used until that point to connect the two banks: flat-bottomed boats and an ice bridge in the winter.

The design of Prud’homme bridge is an adaptation of the “lattice truss”, a concept patented in 1820 by the American architect Ithiel Town. Two of the particularities of this Quebec version are the addition of vertical studs every 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) and the use of metal nails instead of wood dowels. This was a way of prolonging the life span of these bridges, which were already considered to last 10 times longer than open bridges.

As for the openings in the horizontal panels, they were used to ventilate the bridge and to let in light to avoid horses becoming afraid in these long, dark, and loud corridors. This stopped the horses from getting spooked! Today, these openings are a portal to another relic: the door in a dirt hill leading to a root cellar. 

Schedule
Open year-round. There is a rest stop nearby, along with a parking lot, tables and benches, and a boat ramp for canoes and kayaks.