Fort Niagara

Located on the edge of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Niagara River, Fort Niagara is one of the oldest forts in American history. Native American, French and British lived and worked at this site for centuries. In the original treaty with the Seneca, the French were allowed to build as long as it wasn’t a masonry building. It became a trading post and “house of peace”. In 1678, the French built “The Castle by the Sea” to protect its interests in the New World. The fort changed hands multiple times in the years that followed, and the British finally yielded it to the United States for the last time in 1815 at the end of the War of 1812. Today visitors to Fort Niagara State Park can see exhibits and reenactments of the lives of those who lived and fought at the site.