Activities and experiences

Prince of Wales Tower is the first and oldest Martello tower in North America and part of the Halifax Defence Complex. The grounds of Prince of Wales Tower National Historic Site are located within the municipal Point Pleasant Park. Interpretive panels reveal two centuries of history about the stone tower.

Encountering this squat round structure built of stone will transport you back over two centuries.

Almost three times as wide as it is high, its 8-foot thick walls once protected British sea batteries from a French landward attack as part of the formidable coastal defence network, which included nearby Halifax Citadel.

While other locations within the defence complex were in use until after the Second World War, changing military technology rendered the Prince of Wales Tower obsolete by the time the surrounding land was leased to the city for a park in 1866.