
January 2023
A little-known British Army Fort dating back to the War of 1812 can be found a little west of Barrie, Ontario, in Springwater Township.
Situated along a historic trading route, the Nine Mile Portage, which was used for centuries by Indigenous Peoples, fur traders, explorers and missionaries, and located halfway between Kempenfelt Bay and the Nottawasaga River in Simcoe County, Fort Willow was constructed as a supply depot for the British forces.
The property is now a Provincial and National Historic Site, owned and managed by the Nottawasaga Valley conservation Authority. None of the old fort’s buildings remain today, but archaeological investigations have located the foundations of the buildings, which are now outlined by logs, creating a visual interpretation of what the fort looked like.
During the last weekend in September, the annual Festival at the Fort is held, a family-friendly event featuring historical reenactors from the Friends of Fort Willow, a volunteer community group, who bring to life the daily activities of British soldiers and Indigenous Peoples who lived in ​Simcoe County in 1812.
It was the Friends of the Fort, then called the Fort Willow Improvement Group, who were responsible locating and outlining the buildings identified in a 1955 archaeological dig, along with constructing a palisade and defensive earthworks around the site.
- Entrance to Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Inside Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Sites of the Blacksmith Shop, Barracks/Cookhouse, Barracks/Storehouse at Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Site of the stable at Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Site of Visiting Officers’ Quarters, Officers’ Kitchen, Commandant’s House at Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Historical reenactors at Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Miniature version of HMS Nancy, which was sunk at Wasaga Beach on 14 August 1814. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Monument to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Fencible Infantry at Fort Willow. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
- Site map of Fort Willow.
Sources: https://www.springwater.ca/en/recreation-and-culture/fort-willow.aspx, https://www.nvca.on.ca/Pages/FortWillow.aspx, http://fortwillow.nvca.on.ca/index.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_(1789_ship).
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