Glengarry Landing National Historic Site of Canada
Edenvale, Ontario
Division of the site into several lots
© Parks Canada Agency/Agence Parcs Canada
Address :
Edenvale, Ontario
Recognition Statute:
Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date:
1923-05-25
Dates:
-
1814 to 1814
(Significant)
Event, Person, Organization:
-
War of 1812
(Event)
-
Lieutenant-colonel Robert McDouall
(Person)
-
Brevet Major William McKay
(Person)
-
Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles
(Organization)
Other Name(s):
-
Glengarry Landing
(Designation Name)
-
Le Débarquement du 'Glengarry'
(Plaque name)
Research Report Number:
2007-CED/SDC-034
DFRP Number:
56559 00
Plaque(s)
Original Plaque: on the opposite side of the Nottawasaga River, west of the bridge, on the north side of Highway #26, lot 22, Concession 1, Twp of Flos. Highway 26, Ontario
Near here, in the spring of 1814, men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and the Royal Navy, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall, constructed a flotilla of boats to carry them and their supplies down the Nottawasaga River and across Lake Huron to reinforce the British garrison at Michilimackinac. McDouall then sent an expedition to capture the American fort at Prairie du Chien on the upper Mississippi. In July he defeated an American attack on Michilimackinac. His enterprise prevented the Americans from taking control of the Mississippi country and the upper Great Lakes.
Existing plaque: cairn alongside highway, Edenvale Conservation Area, Highway 26 Glengarry Landing Road South, Edenvale, Ontario
At the forks of the Nottawasaga River, Lt.-Col. Robert McDouall, Glengarrly Light Infantry, built the flotilla of boats with which he effected the relief of the British garrison at Fort Michilimackinac, in May 1814. He then organized a second expedition which, on 19th July, captured Prairie-du-Chien, on the Mississippi.
Description of Historic Place
Glengarry Landing National Historic Site of Canada is located on the east bank of the Nottawasaga River, south of Edenvale in Simcoe County, Ontario. The site consists of a semi-rural landscape that was occupied during the War of 1812 by the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles who constructed a flotilla of boats to relieve the British garrison at Fort Michilimackinac. At the time of designation, the site encompassed cleared fields and pasture, with no evidence of the 1814 military expedition’s activities. Today, the site has been divided into several lots, with the addition of several different structures and access roads. Official recognition refers to the legal property boundaries at the time of designation.
Heritage Value
Glengarry Landing was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1923 because: at the forks of the Nottawasaga River, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall, Glengarry Light Infantry, built the flotilla of boats with which he effected the relief of the British garrison at Fort Michilimackinac in May 1814, and the subsequent capture, in July, of Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi.
In February 1814, during the War of 1812, the Glengarry Light Infantry Fencibles was sent from Kingston under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall to reinforce the garrison at Fort Michilimackinac. En route, the troops stopped at the junction of the Nottawasaga River and Marl Creek, where they spent two months constructing a flotilla of boats to move supplies and troops across Lake Huron to the fort. On April 19, 1814, the flotilla left the landing for Fort Michilimackinac. Subsequently, McDouall divided his forces and sent a party to Wisconsin, under the command of Brevet Major William McKay, to recapture Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi River. This mission was successfully carried out in July 1814.
Sources: Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, Minutes, 1935; December 2007.
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements contributing to the heritage value of this site include: its location south of Edenvale in Simcoe County, Ontario; the flat, semi-rural character of the landscape on the east bank of the Nottawasaga River; its proximity to Lake Huron and its relationship with the associated sites, including Fort Michilimackinac and Prairie du Chien; the integrity of any surviving or as yet unidentified archaeological remains which may be found within the site in their original placement and extent; viewscapes from the site across the Nottawasaga River.