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33 plaques found that match your criteria
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St. Andrew's
Presbyterians formed a congregation at Niagara in 1794 with John Dun as resident minister. Within a year, they had built a church and, by 1802, a schoolhouse. American troops burned the church during the War of 1812, claiming that British soldiers had used the steeple as an observation post. The congregation held services in the schoolhouse until 1831 when, under the leadership of the Reverend Robert McGill, they built this church. Restored but little altered... -
Janet Carnochan 1839-1926
For more than 30 years Janet Carnochan, a native of Stamford, Ontario, taught elementary and secondary school at Niagara-on-the-Lake, but she made her greatest contribution to the community as an historian rather than as an educator. A distinguished historical preservationist, Carnochan founded and was first president of the Niagara Historical Society, 1895-1925, and laboured tirelessly to safeguard and promote the rich heritage of Niagara. She wrote and edited numerous historical works including The History of Niagara and successfully campaigned for the construction... -
Joseph-Geneviève, Comte de Puisaye
Soldier, politician, diplomatist and colonizer, de Puisaye was born at Mortagne-en-Perche, France, about 1755, and enlisted in the French Army at 18. Elected to the States General in 1789, he supported reform but, alarmed by the course of the Revolution, later organized resistance on behalf of the Royalists. Outlawed, he sought refuge in England and in 1795, as Lieutenant-General, led an ill-fated expedition to Quiberon, Brittany. Three years later, with some forty other émigrés, he... -
Laura Ingersoll Secord 1775-1868
Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Laura Ingersoll came to Upper Canada with her father in 1795 and settled in this area. About two years later she married James Secord, a United Empire Loyalist, and within seven years they had moved to this site from nearby St. Davids. From here, during the War of 1812, Laura Secord set out on an arduous 19-mile journey to warn the local British commander, Lieutenant James FitzGibbon, of an impending... -
McFarland House 1800, The
This house was built in 1800 by James McFarland on land purchased about 1795 by his father, John McFarland (1757-1814), who was described as "His Majesty's boat builder". One of the Niagara District's finest residences, it was used during the War of 1812 as a hospital by both British and United States forces. A British battery was emplaced behind the house to command the river. In 1813 John McFarland was taken prisoner by the Americans following their capture of Fort George. When he returned in 1814, much of his property had been destroyed and the house badly damaged. -
Niagara Agricultural Society, The
The first organization devoted to the improvement of agriculture in Ontario was founded at Niagara. Its original name, the Agricultural Society of Upper Canada, reflected Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe's hope that it would become a province-wide organization. Its members, mostly merchants, politicians, clergymen and gentlemen farmers, met regularly for dinner and discussion. They imported new varieties of fruit trees to the Niagara peninsula in 1794 and sponsored the province's first agricultural fair in Queenston in... -
Niagara Escarpment, The
Queenston Heights is part of the Niagara Escarpment, a height of land which extends 725 kilometres across Ontario from Niagara Falls to Manitoulin Island. Over 430 million years ago, a shallow tropical sea covered most of central North America. Sediments and coral reef on the seabed were compressed into dolomite, a hard type of limestone which was more resistant to erosion then the bedrock of the adjacent lands after the water retreated. The cliffs of... -
St. Mark's Church
One of the earliest Anglican churches in the province, St. Mark's was begun in 1804 to serve a congregation organized twelve years earlier. Its first rector, the Reverend Robert Addison, chaplain of Upper Canada's first Legislative Assembly, numbered among his parishioners Lieutenant-Governor John Simcoe, Lieutenant-Colonel John Butler and Major-General Isaac Brock. Completed in 1810, the church was used by the British as a hospital in 1812 and by the Americans as a barracks in 1813...