Vicki Schauteet
“My grandmother was a Thomson who grew up on the farm on one side of the Cull Drain. My grandfather was a Telfer who grew up on the other side,” explains Schauteet.
“We joke I wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t been able to cross on the bridge.”
The Cull Drain was dug by hand in the 1850s to drain an inland lake to Lake Huron and facilitate farming on the rich soil.
In 1910, the 100-foot bridge was built by the Jenks & Dresser bridge company, the predecessor of the firm that built the Bluewater Bridge and numerous others in Sarnia-Lambton.
When the Cull Drain Bridge was closed in 2012 due to safety concerns, a political uproar occurred that few could have predicted.
“There’s something special about this bridge,” said Schauteet. “It means something to a lot of people. It’s where they’ve had their wedding pictures taken. It was a favourite place to walk along the lake, and part of the Bluewater Highway.
“It was a part of so many people’s lives.”
After many heated meetings city council discarded plans to demolish the bridge completely, but the money wasn’t there for a new one.
So the aging structure was moved nearby to Mike Weir Park where it now sits on blocks. It’s not clear what will ultimately come of it or whether it will ever return to the Cull Drain.
Schauteet is a dedicated member of The Friends of Cull Drain Bridge and began gathering photos, paintings and artifacts connected to the bridge.
Many of them will be on display at Gallery in the Grove from Sept. 18 – Oct. 22 to celebrate the bridge’s art and history.
The exhibition features eight restored photographs taken by the half brother of Schauteet’s grandfather. Charles Alfred (Fred) Telfer was born in Sarnia Township in 1879 and spent 37 years as a photographer. His studio was in downtown Sarnia.
Joan Elliott of Sarnia restored Schauteet’s photos, which were enlarged and framed for the exhibition. The show also features an aerial photo by Glenn Ogilvie, paintings by Kathy Rath and other prominent local artists, maps, models and books.
There are also samples of the brick made from a vein of blue clay along the drain that turned yellow when fired. Many houses, churches and even the Gallery in the Grove building on Hamilton Road were made with this brick.
“The main reason behind this is to make people aware of the bridge,” said Schauteet. “Even though there is no money to save it, we can at least display it as a museum piece.”
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: Cull Drain Bridge Art & History exhibition
WHERE: Gallery in the Grove, 2618 Hamilton Rd, Bright’s Grove.
WHEN: Sept. 18 – Oct. 22. Opening reception Sept. 18: 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
The trusses of the historic Cull Drain Bridge as they sit on blocks today in Mike Weir Park.
Cathy Dobson