Kingston, Ontario

We spent the weekend in Kingston, Ontario, a city of 150,000 people at the confluence of Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River and the Cataraqui River/Rideau Canal.  Because of its location on three navigable waterways, Kingston has been an important port from the days when the French ran Canada.  Now it is home to the Canadian Military Academy (think West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy all rolled into one), Queens College (one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the country), a big military base, and ten prisons (only six of which are actively being used).  Kingston is also very interested in promoting tourism.  They have built a nice city marina and made a commitment to retaining all of their historic houses and commercial buildings.

There was a lot happening the weekend we were here.  We took the trolley historic tour through town, shopped at the farmer's market, had lunch at the Taste of Kingston restaurant celebration in the park next to the marina, caught the new Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts movie (light summer fluff, not great film-making), re-stocked our groceries and liquor, and visited the historic fort built after the War of 1812.  While on our trolley tour we learned that the bridge across the Cataraqui River was designed by the same man who designed the Golden Gate.  With no offense intended to our Canadian hosts, I think he did his better work in San Francisco.

I don't think citizens of the U.S. understand how fraught the relationship with our Canadian neighbors has been over the years.  Fort Henry, which is a very nice fort compared to U.S. facilities of the same age, was built to protect Canada from invasion by the U.S.  Not only was there concern about invasion during the War of 1812, but there was some kerfuffle in the 1840s when people in Oregon thought that the U.S. northern border should reach all the way to the North Pole.  Although no invasion occurred either time, the Canadians were ready for us. As you can tell from this picture taken at the fort, they would definitely have seen the U.S. Navy coming.

Throughout the coastal areas of Kingston there are also numerous historic markers commemorating the landing spots of Loyalists (people fleeing the U.S. after the American Revolution) in 1783.  Today they are happy to be invaded, as long as the tourists are spending money.

Hand cranks let the water out

From here we start up the Rideau Canal, which is actually another monument to concern about the evil U.S.  After the War of 1812, the British and Canadians decided they needed a way to get from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean that was not subject to interference by the U.S.  They embarked on building a canal from Kingston to Ottawa, making use of existing rivers and lakes where possible.  By the time the canal opened in 1832, tensions had eased a bit and the canal was never used for commercial traffic.  But it remains a favorite vacation destination for Canadians and in 2007 was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Unlike the Erie Canal, the Rideau was never updated as new technologies were developed in the 19th century.  All of the locks are still operated by hand which is what UNESCO and Canada are preserving by naming it a World Heritage Site.  That means that every lock has a four or five staff to help position boats and operate the locks.

Hand cranks to open the gates