Curious Fact of the Week: The World’s Shortest International Bridge

A bridge from a home to its island backyard is said to cross over the US/Canadian border. The story of Zavikon Island goes back to the late 19th century with the tiny bridge between the two islands said to be the shortest international crossing in the world.

Zavikon Island in 2010 (photograph by Malcolm Clark, via Wikimedia)

However, some sources indicate that both islands are in fact in Canada. Nevertheless, the story endures, with the diminutive bridge’s charm supplanting geographic facts. The bridge is just 32 feet long, stretching from one island to the next in the Saint Lawrence River. The whole area has clusterings of hundreds of small islands in a 50-mile-long archipelago split between New York in the United States and Ontario in Canada, with the boundaries sometimes murky in the waters.

1910 postcard of Zavikon Island (via Wikimedia) 

The bridge between the islands came resulted their dual ownership. And if you have two islands, why not make one your backyard? According to this 1910 postcard, flags once even marked the supposed boundaries. The area itself is also gorgeous, with rocky shores and migrating birds mingling with the lush foliage on the international shores. 

THE SHORTEST INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE?: ZAVIKON ISLAND, Zavikon Island, Canada

Curious Facts of the Week: Helping you build your cocktail party conversation repertoire with a new strange fact every week, and an amazing place to explore its story. See all the Curious Facts here>