Fort Erie and Crystal Beach, Ontario, Canada

There are three bridges to Canada in the Buffalo area, the southernmost, the Peace Bridge, is in downtown Buffalo. Fort Erie is just south of the bridge and we took a tour, again with costumed guides. I was able to get a photo of the musket demonstration.

The French moved into the area in the late 1600’s. but did not build an outpost here. At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 this land, along with Fort Niagara, were turned over to Great Britian. The British built Fort Erie an 1764 as part of the effort to establish control over the area. The original Fort was built closer to the River. The existing structure was started early in the 1800s. the Americans captured Fort Erie in 1814 during the War of 1812. This is the bloodiest battlefield in the history of Canada. Fort Erie was returned to the British at the end of the War. We were the only Americans on the tour (they asked us to raise our hands) and there were some friendly snide remarks about the Revolutionary War.

From there we drove southwest a few miles to Crystal Beach. They mentioned Crystal Beach at the Carousel Museum as one of the amusement parks in the area that had a carousel and other amusement rides made at the Herschell Factory among their other attractions. Several native Buffalonians (people born in Buffalo?) talked about their childhood memories of taking a ferry or the bridge to Crystal Beach. It closed in 1989, and there is only a park on the beach now.