Thursday, July 27, 2023

Fort Drummond

[Kyle]Okay, so Fort Drummond was the last British fort on American soil following the War of 1812. This was basically because the mail was really slow back then. Once everyone figured out Drummond Island was United States territory, per the Treaty of Ghent, the Americans promptly demanded the British vacate the island, which they did without further argument. By then it was November of 1828.

This post is not about that because, by the time we showed up 195 years later, there was no sign whatsoever of the aforementioned fort in the bay that still bears its name, as the new locals quickly dismantled and repurposed all that buildling material into new structures. We had seen the layout of the original fort buildings back in the museum in Yacht Haven, and any remnants are now scattered across privately owned lands.


It was a bit smokey and hazy on the passage but we did get to see this distinctive lighthouse on the way through the De Tour Passage

When we arrived, we anchored in the middle of the shallow bay, which was sparsely lined with lakefront homes of every level from little fishing shacks to fancy, stone dream homes. Just up the bay from us was a rather derelict-looking marina that, because of the shallow access, seems to mostly cater to pontoon boats.

There didn’t seem to be a whole lot to see of interest, but we were here, so we set out in the kayak for a lap of the shoreline. Once we got going, though, we found the bay to be much larger than expected. We spent hours paddling through the reeds at the edges and through every narrow feeder stream. The area is probably too built-up for there to be too much wildlife, but we did spot a few interesting birds along the way. Once we were around the corner from the marina, the place was very picturesque.


Another fun trip with the kayak on a sunny day
The bird is a Belted kingfisher and the Painted Turtle speaks for itself

We popped into the marina on the way home and found they did at least have the redeeming feature of a freezer full of ice cream bars. The owner was pretty friendly, too.

No comments: