Touring Historic Kingston, Ontario

Hi Blog! Today is Tuesday, July 14, 2015. We had arrived in the Kingston area last Wednesday. Dave had a dentist appointment first thing Thursday. Afterwards, we decided to have lunch in Kingston before taking our train to Toronto to see Matt. Since Kingston is the city that Sir John A. Macdonald built, we decided to dine at Sir John’s Public House located in the very building that housed Sir John’s law practice.

After a yummy lunch of vegetable haggis, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center and picked up some tourist information. We were impressed with the old fortifications around the harbor.

We enjoyed a short walk along the waterfront. Here the Kingston City Hall watches over happy picnicers. BuskerFest was scheduled to kick off later that day and folks were staking out their seats.

Kingston has done a great job preserving its historic buildings. You almost feel like you are walking around in the 1800s London, England. Here Dave is taking a short side trip to the Ministry of Magic.

The old Prince George Hotel still greets visitors. Just don’t be surprised when you meet the resident ghost on the third floor. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay to meet her because our train to Toronto was leaving at 2:30. So, we decided we would come back and take the Kingston Trolley Tour.

This morning, we got up bright and early and headed into town. We had been advised at the Visitor’s Center to park Great White on the Queen’s University campus. They have a large open air parking lot next to the football field. It was just a short walk down to the waterfront and the Visitor’s Center. We hopped on the bus and hopped off again at the first stop - The Royal Military College of Canada. Their history museum is located in one of the old martello towers built for the War of 1812.

We entered the tower on the first floor. The circular room was filled with historical displays about college life. They also celebrated some of their more famous graduates, like Canada’s signing astronaut, Chris Hadfield. After taking in all the history, we had a chance to explore the tower from basement to attic. Here is Kathy looking up from the basement steps.

In order to get natural light into the basement interior rooms, windows were added between rooms. It makes for great photo effects.

The second floor holds the Douglas Firearms Collection, but the third floor is where the big guns are kept.

Our next stop was Fort Henry. From the walkway leading into the Fort, we could look down on The Royal Military College and the Martello Tower that we just toured.

After paying our admission, we received a schedule of events. We were just in time for the canon firing at 12:00 noon. We headed down into the lower fort to explore as many of the rooms as we could before noon. As we come upon the parade ground, we saw some young cadets being commissioned into service.

Built for the War of 1812, Fort Henry never fired a shot. With changes to military technology, it soon fell into ruin. During the Great Depression in the1930s, a Canada Works Program began rebuilding the fort. Today, many of the rooms have been restored to how they would have looked in 1812. There were officer quarters, anterior rooms, school room, soldiers bunk room, a bakery and, our favorite, the soldier’s cookhouse.

After the cannon fired, we had the opportunity to walk the ramparts. Nice view - ay?

The Fort Henry Guard was preparing for a rifle demonstration. We got to watch them muster and march. We didn’t stay for the firing. The next bus was coming and we wanted to get back downtown for lunch.

The downtown stop drops you off right next to an outdoor farmer’s market. We decided we would come back after lunch and pick up a couple things. We had noticed The Kingston Brewing Company when we were here last week and decided this was a place we needed to stop for lunch. Check out the cool decor.

After a delicious lunch and even more delicious beer, we walked over to the farmer’s market and picked up some tarts for Matt’s visit to us in Cookstown. After filling our packs with sweet treats, we walked back to the waterfront.  We learned from our bus driver, that the sailors competing in the Pan Am games are all in Kingston practicing for their events. Here you can see some of the hundreds of sailboats that dotted the harbor.

Our last stop was the Great Lakes Marine Museum. Inside the museum, we learned all about the Great Lakes. There were lots of displays on the various boats used from the old wooden ships to the new supertankers built specially to fit the locks along the St. Lawrence Seaway. We also had the chance to explore the CCGS Alexander Henry. She was a Canadian Coast Guard ship built in 1959. The large crane you see in this picture is used to service the navigational buoys.

If you ever find yourself in the Kingston area, make sure you give yourself a day or two to enjoy everything that Kingston has to offer. You won’t be disappointed.