Revisiting the War of 1812 and a few Wineries

 

The weather forecast for the next three days was to be sunny and mild. This enticingly fine October weather, a historical confluence, a free ride (thanks Leah and Will) and the dozens of wineries enticed us to visit the lower part of Upper Canada  which 200 years previously was “ground zero” for the War of 1812.

So armed with a small backpack, reservations at a bed and breakfast and bike rentals we headed out to relive the greatest hits of the War of 1812 and perhaps visit a few wineries. 

June 18, 1812, America declared war on Britain. The British had been harassing the Americans for years, still sore about losing the colonies.

 

 

 

 

The American thinking was that the residents of Upper Canada would rise against the British oppressor and join them in throwing them out of North America. Sound familiar to the American thinking for a number of  Middle Eastern conflicts/wars?

 

Over the next three years, more than 30 battles were fought ending in November of 1814 when the Americans evacuated (some say kicked out of) the Niagara Peninsula.

 

 

The Treaty of Ghent ended the war and was ratified by the British Parliament in the February of 1815. The treaty marked the beginning of over 200 years of reasonably peaceful co-existence.

The Americans are still invading. Now they come in tour buses on bridges that have made it extremely easy to invade again should they get it into their heads. Thankfully, we were smart enough to locate duty free outlets at each bridge to ensure that the invading hordes would not want for souvenirs and we could make a few bucks from any invasion.

 

 

 

A 90 minute drive saw us dropped off (thanks Leah and Will) at one of these Duty Free shops. A short hike brought us to one of the busier Niagara Falls tourist attractions, the floral clock.  Not sure I see the attraction, but there was a tour bus pulling up every 10 minutes, spouting seniors by the dozen.

 

 

 

From here, we connected with local transit for a bus ride into Niagara on the Lake. Niagara on the Lake is a cute little place with lots of 100-200 year old architecture populated by restaurants, boutiques, souvenir shops and home to the annual Shaw Festival (George Bernard Shaw) for which we had tickets that night.

 

We took a quick meander down the main street and then a short walk to the bike rental location where we were hooked up with our transportation for the next three days.

 

 

 

 

 

Day two was another beautiful fall day. Our first mission was to carry out a recon of the enemy. Visible across the Niagara River on the American side, looking menacing in the early morning light was Fort Niagara where the American military machine hatched their evil plans for the domination of Upper Canada.

 

Fort Niagara, was started by the French, captured by the British during the French Indian War who then lost it to the Americans during the Colonial Wars (British)/War of Independence (American) who lost it to the British (Upper Canadians) in December 1813 then getting back in the Treaty of Ghent.  

 

From there, we did a bike by of Fort George, built in 1802, the headquarters for the British Army. The invading Americans took it over in May 1813 and used it as a base for the many unsuccessful invasion attempts of Upper Canada till they were served their eviction notice in December of 1814. It served as a Canadian military training ground till 1965. Hopefully it will never be needed again.

From there we hit the Niagara River Recreational trail that would take us along the scenic Niagara River and our next stop, the little Village of Queenston. The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major battle of the War of 1812.  The Upper Canadian forces under General Brock defeated the Americans and set the tone for the rest of the war.

 

 

Continuing to our next goal was to visit the monumental monument dedicated to General Brock who won the battle of Queenstown Heights but lost the war as he was killed during the battle. (See battle picture above)

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, we had just about enough of war and turned our sights to a more peaceful pastime, turning our wheels in the direction of the nearest winery for which we had a free tasting coupon.  Our collection of free tasting coupons was to act as our guide to for rest of the afternoon.

The weather on day 3 was a mirror of day 2, sunny and mild.  Our mission today included a visit to Fort Mississauga, the baby brother to Fort George, a bike ride along part of the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Go Bus stop in St. Catherine’s and a Go Bus ride back to Toronto. The bike rental people were nice enough to allow us to leave our bikes secured at the YMCA bike racks located across the street from the bus stop.

Fort Mississauga was quickly thrown up in 1814 using the rubble from the nearby town of Niagara, a casualty of the war. Since then, a golf course has been built around the fort making it the oldest and biggest golf course hazard in North America.

The Welland Canal completed construction in 1959 as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway project. It was built to allow large ships to travel from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, bypassing Niagara Falls and the many rapids located along the Niagara including the massive Niagara Falls.  We spent some time watching a boat/ship pass through Lock #3.

This 4 hour bike ride found us at the Go Bus stop followed by a 90 minute bus ride home to Toronto.

As part of our War of 1812 theme, we will be invading Washington next. Stay tuned.