Fort Henry

The fort was built to guard a dockyard, and the dockyard is now a military college.

Fort Henry stands on Point Henry at Kingston, Ontario, an elevated position near the mouth of the Cataraqui River where it meets the St. Lawrence at the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Both the fort and the point are named after Henry Hamilton, former Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Quebec.

The British had noted Point Henry as a defensible position as early as 1783, when they established a post at what is now Kingston by partly refurbishing and garrisoning the ruined French Fort Frontenac. The first fortification here went up during the War of 1812, to protect the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard on Point Frederick, now the site of the Royal Military College of Canada, from American attack, and to watch maritime traffic on the river and the lake.

A much larger fort replaced it in the 1830s, keeping the dockyard covered and securing the southern entrance to the Rideau Canal. That connection matters: the Rideau Canal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places links the two directly.

It was formally recognised as a National Historic Site of Canada on 25 May 1923, and restored in the 1930s.

What you visit today is that restoration, and it is one of the more substantial fortifications open to the public in Canada. Go for the position as much as the walls. Stand on Point Henry and the whole strategic argument of the place lays itself out in front of you: the river mouth, the lake, the dockyard opposite, and the canal entrance the British were determined not to lose.