Fort Henry, Kingston

We devoted today to Kingston and Fort Henry. Kingston, Ontario, is a city located where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Fort Henry is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is located  on Point Henry where it guards the convergence of the Rideau Canal, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. The original fort was built during the War of 1812 to protect the Kingston Royal Navy Dockyard from a possible United States attack. The present fort was constructed between 1832 and 1837. It was the largest and most costly fort built west of Quebec City. The Discovery Centre at the fort opened in June of this year and it gives in-depth information on the Fort's origins, conflict and resolutions, interesting characters of the day. It is quite high-tech and seemed to be good if we could have got through the hordes of children! Jim was particularly disappointed not to get an opportunity to shoot a cannon and sink a ship. I thought he was going to throw a tantrum so I led him quickly away and left the children to their game!

The view from the fort is lovely though today was a bit hazy.

We arrived just in time for a guided tour in English and while we waited for it to begin we made the acquaintance of David X, the fort mascot.

Spot the goat!

A Garrison Cell

The men's privies. The guide even deomonstrated how to use them!

The Privies for the women and children - no need for any acrobatics here!

Just after the canon blast.

The beer and spirits cellar.

Soldiers' Barrack Room.

The Schoolroom.

The bakery - each oven could take 120 2lb. loaves.

Cannon.

A load of balls!

Another Cannon

New recruits being signed up.

As part of the entertainment, children could enlist, be given jackets and then trained to become soldiers. This was absolutely hilarious. When we arrived, one lot of recruits was marching about, with their rifles, singing marching songs. Finally, there was a ceremony in which each was called forward, army style, to receive a certificate.

What a motley crew!

This lot was really funny. The little girl on the left was very undisciplined as her cap kept blowing off and she couldn't follow the commands. The sergeant threatened to put her in a garrison cell. The tall lad is destined for promotion, I would say!

This soldier's job is to dig the trenches.

At this stage, I had enough of playing soldiers so we set off for downtown Kingston where we had a nice walk at the water front. By coincidence we parked at Park An Gorta Mor where we found this Celtic Cross and its inscription.

Translation for those of you who don't understand Irish.

On our way down Ontario Street, I noticed the name of one of the side-streets - The Tragically Hip Way and wondered where the name came from. I have since discovered that it is named after the city's most famous rock 'n' roll band, Tragically Hip, who will, in fact be performing at the Ottawa Bluesfest this week.





And treat of the day for Jim was finally getting a photo of the bird that he has been pursuing since we were in Grimsby! Maybe Oli knows what it is.