Canada Guide
Ontario
Fort Henry
Opening time: Late May to Sept daily 10am–5pm
Price: $11
Website: www.forthenry.com
The twin headlands over the Lasalle Causeway to the east of downtown Kingston have long been used by the military. The first is home to the Royal Military College, the training academy for officers of all three services; the second to Fort Henry, a large and imposing fortress built to keep the Americans at bay after the War of 1812. The fort's thick stone-and-earth ramparts are flush with the lie of the land to protect against artillery bombardment, but as it turned out it was all a waste of time and money. Anglo-American relations improved and the fort never saw a shot fired in anger, so when the last garrison upped sticks at the end of the nineteenth century, the fortress fell into disrepair. Restored in 1938, the fort's focus is now the large parade ground, where students periodically dress up in military gear and fill the fort with the smoke of muskets and cannons and the racket of bugles, drums and fifes. These period enactments are firmly aimed at families, and there's lots for kids to do, from joining in on drill parades and helping with the gun salute, to participating in lessons in a Victorian schoolroom and doing the laundry. If this doesn't appeal you can explore the ramparts, with their vistas of Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands, and examine the fort's magazines, kitchens and officers' quarters.