Pierre and I went on a adventure to Old Fort Niagara, it sits on the banks of Lake Ontario and I wanted to put my feet in this Lake, that made all five Lakes that I have stood in! So after I got my feet wet we decided to go see the Fort, now... I have said that if you have seen one Fort you have seen them all, but this was a wonderful Fort..I was impressed! This Forts history spans more than 300 years and the Forts commanding presence on the Great Lakes caused it to play a key role in the French War, Indian Wars, the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
The importance of the Fort Niagara site was because of its location. The Great Lakes and their connecting straits form a continuous body of water from the Atlantic Ocean to the center of the North American continent, and along the southern and western edge of the lakes lies a continental divides which separate the tributary streams of the Great Lakes from draining into the Gulf of Mexico, now the Indians and the early Europeans, used these waters as a natural highways through rugged and heavily forested land.
The fort was occupied by three nations: France, Great Britain, and the United States and the French established the first post in 1679 and built the cool French Castle in the middle in 1726.
It still stands today...as you can see!
Then Britain gained control of the fort in 1759 during the French and Indian War and maintained control throughout the American Revolution, yielding it to the United States in 1796. Then the fort was captured by the British during the War of 1812 until being handed over again to the United States in 1815 after which time it served as a peaceful border post.
Old Fort Niagara served as a training station and active barracks from the Civil War until the last army units were withdrawn in 1963. The Army was the last to leave and still today, it serves as a operating base for the United States Coast Guard making it one of the longest continuously run military bases in the Unites Stated, from 1726 to present day.
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They had a flag on display in the museum and this flag..like the Fort...has a wonderful story! Now the road back to Old Fort Niagara has been long and arduous for the flag the British captured on Dec. 19, 1813. After the Fort fell...an aide to Mac. Ten. Sir Gordon Drummond, the commander of the British forces in Upper Canada, arrived in Quebec to present the flag, as a trophy, to Sir George Prevost, British commander-in-chief of North America.
In May 1814, Prevost shipped the Niagara flag to London where it was laid before the feet of the Prince Regent, later King George IV. Prince Regent returned the Fort Niagara flag to Gen. Drummond, whose family home was in Scotland. There it remained on display in a hallway for decades before word of its whereabouts reached Canada in 1984.
Unfortunately, it had been badly damaged by a fire in 1969. The flags owner the Lady Strange finally agreed to sell the flag (she needed a new roof on the castle) and it was taken to the Peebles Island Resource Center in Albany, a facility operated by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, to be restored. Then it was returned to Old Fort Niagara where the flag is now the centerpiece for the museum and visitors center at Old Fort Niagara!
After the Fort I wanted to go back to the Falls one more time. They impressed me so much. We went back over to Goat Island, then over to Luna Island to walk the boardwalk. This boardwalk takes you right beside Bridal Falls. When you stand on the boardwalk you can feel the power and the vibration right under your feet and hear the roar of the Falls...it is spectacular!
The channel of the Niagara River splits in two above the falls, creating two sets of falls, one on either side of the island, the Bridal Falls and the American Fall, but the Island stands firm and I saw a mama duck with her duckling swimming in the calm waters near the Island..it was quite the scene...
We also walked across the rainbow bridge so I could have one foot in the United States and one in Canada!
We are setting out on a new adventure tomorrow, but.... I'll be back!
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