Old Fort Niagara and Lighthouses

Okay, I know I said the next post would be in a couple of days but we saw so much today, I could not wait.  The first major viewing of the day was - the SUN!  Yes, after three soggy, gloomy and windy days, the sun has finally broken through.  We never got the pounding of rain that the Eastern states have received but we expect to see the effects of that firsthand in the next few days.  The photos below are proof that the sun will shine again.

Our first stop was at Fort Niagara, an historic site since 1676.  The main building (below), was built in 1726 by the French to control this major water trade route from the Atlantic to the interior of North America.  Their primary units of trade were furs from the abundant beaver and other fur bearing animals found in the area. 



 Naturally, since the French were successful in these trading endeavors, the British wanted in on the action and they took the Fort in 1759.  In 1796, control of the Fort was transferred to the new United States but the British had moved across the river and built their own Fort in Canada.  Tensions existed between the two Forts until December of 1813 when the British snuck in during the early morning hours and regained control.  That ended in May of 1815 when Thomas Jefferson negotiated the return of the Fort to the US.

The gentleman below demonstrated the loading and firing of a musket used during the early days at the fort.  The shot produced a lot of smoke and an extremely loud boom.

The photo below is a picture of where one of the officers slept at the fort.  It is notable because it looks almost exactly like the setup at a typical KOA Kamping Kabin.

The photo below shows the sleeping quarters for the enlisted men.  Looks cozy.  They actually slept side by side in a row like this.

We spent over two hours at the fort - longer than we expected.  Our next stop was the Thirty Mile Point lighthouse (below).  It is named for the fact that it is 30 miles down the Niagara River from Niagara Falls.

The two photos below are of the Lighthouses at Sodus Point, near Rochester.  The top one is the old lighthouse (built in 1870) that is no longer in use but is now a Maritime Museum.  The bottom photo is the new lighthouse.  A new light was needed because the shifting currents in Lake Ontario actually created new land further away from the location of the old light. 

The two lighthouses are quite a distance apart.  I had to use my longest zoom lens to get this shot from the old lighthouse.

From Sodus Point, we stopped to see a friend but could not spend near enough time since it was getting later in the day and we still had about 100 miles to go.  Tonight we are in Watertown, NY.  Next stop is Lake Placid for the weekend where we hope things will be relatively dry.  Until Monday...