- Type
- Fortress
- Origins
- 1673 · 17th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Commissioned by
- Louis de Buade de Frontenac
- Coordinates
- 44.2333°, -76.4786°
History
In 1673 the governor of New France, Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, had a wooden fort built at Cataraqui to control the fur trade and the route to the Great Lakes. Command soon passed to René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who strengthened the post with stone walls. In 1689 the French abandoned and destroyed the fort, but they rebuilt it in 1695. In August 1758, during the French and Indian War, a British force under John Bradstreet captured and demolished it, cutting supplies to the French forts on the Ohio. After the Loyalists arrived in the 1780s the British put barracks on the site, around which Kingston grew.
What to see
The site is occupied by 19th-century stone barracks that house the Canadian Army's staff college, so the grounds are not generally open. At one corner by the street the foundations of a bastion of the French fort have been uncovered and preserved, with interpretive panels. Nearby the waterfront looks out over the mouth of the Cataraqui River and the islands of Lake Ontario.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q515965
Popularity: articles about this site in 13 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).