Niagara-on-the-Lake Off The Beaten Path

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The British built Fort George here between 1796 and 1799 to guard the strategic river mouth and Niagara-on-theLake. The headquarters of the British Army and Canadian Militia, FORT GEORGE became a major battlefield and played a key role in the struggle for the Niagara Frontier during the War of 1812.
The historic earthworks, authentically refurbished buildings and staff in period costume recreate the lifestyles and activities of the period. Demonstrations of military musketry, cooking, black-smithing and carpentry.

Adults: $6.00
Children 6 to 16: $4.00
Under 6 free

Open daily from April 1 to October 31
Located at 26 Queens St. Niagara-on-the-Lake

While we were staying in Niagara, the tour party visited the winery of Chateau des Charmes. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about this family run business, and took us right through the process from grapes, - bottle.

It was facinating to see the huge vats the wine was stored in, how they make the red/white/rose wine, but I was intrigued about the process of producing Ice Wine.

Since 1978 the Bosc family, has been producing wines.
There is a lot of family history, members of the family etc., on the web site, so I would urge you to take time to read it.

Location - 1025 York Road, Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Public tours. 11am. and 3pm,.

French Tours 12p.m.

Facilities include , wedding receptions in a marquee, outside courtyard, etc. please see website for information.

This is one of many wineries that one can find between Niagara Falls and Nigara-on-the-Lake. This just happened to be the one that we turned into and it was a good choice. Like a lot of the wineries, from what I hear, if you want to taste the famous ice wine, you have to pay around $3 but at Riverview, if you decide to buy it you don't have to pay for the tasting. So we bought it, expensive as it was, because it was pretty good stuff. I'm not one that usually goes for sweet desert wines but this wine was different. There was the second pressing which was too sweet for us but the late harvest bottle, which we bought, was pretty good. A bit grassy on the nose with some flavors of bosc pear and dates mingled in there. I recommend it highly. We also tasted their 100% Cabernet Franc bottle which was great. I think this was the first time I had Cabernet Franc when it wasn't blended with Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. The manager who worked here was a nice guy as well, very informative. unfortunately at the time of year we visited (March) they were not doing tours as there was not much to see.

As we were biking downtown towards the marina, we happened to pass William Kirby's home. Kirby (1817-1906) is the author of The Golden Dog (1877), a historical novel set in Quebec City.

Kirby moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1839 and once wrote that this town was "as near heaven as any town whatever.”