Toronto Skyline from Fort Mississauga Tunnel by Ground State Photos, on Flickr


The Niagara River has three well-known forts from the war of 1812, each with an organized interpretive program and on-site staff. Fort Erie guards the mouth of the river on the Canadian side at Lake Erie. At the other end of the river, Fort George and Fort Niagara can be found on the Canadian and American sides, respectively.

However, hidden in the middle of a golf course in Niagara-on-the-Lake, another fort can be found. Fort Mississauga is smaller, vacant and largely forgotten.

In 1804, a lighthouse was erected at Mississauga Point in Niagara-on-the-Lake. This was the first lighthouse on the Great Lakes, but it was dismantled in 1814 to make way for Fort Mississauga. Stone from the lighthouse was incorporated into the foundation that the fort was built upon, and stone for the walls was salvaged from rubble left after retreating United States forces burned the nearby town of Newark in December, 1813. The British Army was stationed at the fort until 1855, followed by the Canadian Army, which used it as summer training ground beginning in the 1870s.



Fort Mississauga - 01 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 02 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 04 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 03 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 05 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 06 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 07 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 08 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 09 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 10 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 11 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr



Fort Mississauga - 12 by Ground State Photos, on Flickr

Awesome find. You don't see many military abandonments that old. You did a great job of capturing in your pictures.

Really digging the Hawk image

Those ICE pics Rock! beautiful shots GS. Love the heavy doors and the shot of the hawk also.

That icicle tree is gnarly cool.

(Also, MURKA! _{you know...because we won the war and stuff...})

LOVE that first shot! The ice trees are pretty killer as well.