Fort Henry National Historic site - Kingston

Just before the sun set in the west, we drove up to the top of the hill where the present day Fort Henry National Historic site is located in Kingston, Ontario on Point Henry.

It didn't take long once we left the car and looked down from the peak to see that it was clearly a very strategic point during the war of 1812.  A strategic, elevated point near the mouth of the Cataraqui River (where it flows into the St. Lawrence River at the east end of Lake Ontario). 

 

 

Even though we visited this site during the COVID-19 pandemic there were still several dozens of people wandering the site with families to see it.  There was plenty of space to keep a safe distance throughout its 66.5 acres of land that the fort covers.

In the 1930s, "Old Fort Henry" was restored to it's present day sate as part of a government work program during the Great Depression. "Old Fort Henry" became a living museum with the introduction of the Fort Henry Guard, and was opened on August 1, 1938.

Today, Fort Henry is jointly owned and operated by both Parks Canada and the St. Lawrence Parks Commission. As an extremely popular tourist attraction, people come from all over the world throughout the year to see the uniformed military guard staff conducting demos of British military life.

 

The Fort is now open for self-guided tours and other activities and demonstrations which include historical reenactments of drills and battle tactics, the Garrison Parade, the Victorian School Room, and the Muster Parade, where young visitors are dressed in period uniforms and taught to march by a qualified member of the Guard. 

 

I would love to live in Kingston where a sunset ceremony is held every Wednesday in July and August, when a full program of historic drill, music and artillery is presented.   During the evenings a year-round tour company conducts tours of the fort that highlight the fort's supposedly haunted past.

Fort Henry has been designated as a National Historic Site of Canada, and in 2007 was included in the designation of the Rideau Canal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.