Ornaments carved from scrapped Kingston bridge keep its memory and 'music' alive
Hearts, diamonds and rings are made from the now demolished LaSalle Causeway bridge
Tracy Hubbard remembers her family falling silent in the car so they could listen to the "Singing Bridge" in Kingston, Ont. — the hum of tires on the bridge's grating that formed part of the soundtrack of her childhood.
The century-old crossing may be gone and replaced with a temporary span that can't carry a tune, but when Hubbard holds onto her newest Christmas ornament, she swears she can still hear the music.
"That noise was important to us," she said. "Now, when we drive over it, somebody always makes the noise, you know ... 'mrraaaaaaaaap' as you go over, because we're so used to hearing that sound."
Hubbard's decoration is a diamond-shaped piece of that original grating — one of the "keys to the instrument" that transformed every commute over the Cataraqui River into an impromptu concert.
It hangs from a simple red ribbon and is one in a series of handmade mementos carved out of the scrap of the LaSalle Causeway bridge after it was damaged during repair work earlier this year, then demolished.
"To have a piece of that old bridge in our home is, it's incredible," Hubbard said.
Each of the ornaments is handcrafted by Steph Brown with the help of her family through the newly formed Kingston Causeway Co.
In the months leading up to Christmas, the sounds of a saw, file and a sledgehammer could be heard from behind a garage door with a handwritten sign declaring it "Santa's Workshop, 'Kingston metalwork section."
Brown is quick to admit they had no experience working with steel, but when the bridge came down, they knew it had to live on somehow.
"Like all Kingstonians ... you just had this feeling that you wanted to keep it alive in some way," she explained, recalling her own memories of crossing the causeway to visit family.
Brown lobbied hard for a chance to salvage some pieces of the bridge — contacting the demolition company, her MP and anyone else who might be able to help — even though she didn't know what exactly what she'd do with them.
A sentimental scavenger hunt
Finally, an email came offering her an hour to come down and fill a truck with whatever she could salvage.
Brown compared sorting through the twisted metal to a "scavenger hunt," but amid the rush was a sense of sadness, too.
"You're sitting there looking at a rubble of a 107-year-old bridge ... taking scraps," she said.
Among the pieces they pulled from the wreckage are the grating, corrugated metal, heavy counterweights, part of a handrail and some electrical conduit, which Brown believes was part of the system to raise and lower the lift bridge.
The idea for Christmas ornaments was inspired by people's sentimental connection to the causeway.
"I just feel like the action of putting it on the tree floods you with those memories every year," Brown said.
Through hours of hard work, the pile in their garage has been turned into diamonds, rings and hearts that have been scooped up by more than 300 customers to date.
The ornaments are covered in scars from a century of service, with rivet holes, unique scratches and, of course, the green paint that was part of the bridge's distinctive look.
"They each tell a story, and every single one's different," said Brown.
'Like bridging the hearts of Kingston'
Brown wears a tiny heart made of the metal on a chain around her neck, and said the shape was a natural choice because for many the causeway was more than just a crossing.
Among the company's customers was a student from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC).
Brown said he told her his dad had attended RMC while his mom was at Queen's University. When the two met and fell in love, they'd always cross the bridge to see each other. He bought his parents a heart ornament as a sentimental gift.
"It didn't just bridge you to downtown ... literally, it was like bridging the hearts of Kingston," she explained.
Hubbard said she's grateful someone was able to save part of the old bridge. She bought two of the diamond ornaments and said she plans to give one to her brother and the other to her son, in the hope they'll be able to share it with future generations.
"Maybe somebody will pick up another ornament and clank it together and go, 'Hey, look, there's music!' she said "It'll just be different music on the tree this year."
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