Fort Ontario State Historic Site is a star-shaped fortress situated on a bluff overlooking Great Lake Ontario and the Oswego Harbor.
Established in 1755, the fort’s strategic location on the east side of the mouth of the Oswego River significantly influenced the development of North America. It helped achieve a peaceful frontier border with Canada in 1871 and has served the broader needs of the United States as an emerging world power since the first half of the 20th century.
Today, it stands restored and furnished to its 1868-1869 appearance. Visitors can tour Army offices, guardhouses, officer’s quarters, enlisted men’s barracks and a powder magazine. Explore cavernous underground stone artillery casemates and rifle galleries, enjoy scenic views of Lake Ontario from windswept ramparts and walk solemnly through the shaded Post Cemetery.
Whether you’re visiting for the day or camping on Lake Ontario, N.Y., take time to explore this heritage site and relax on its scenic ramparts!
Known as the “Guardian of the Frontier,” Fort Ontario was built just one year into the French and Indian War and was the site of three battles during that colonial conflict. It was also the site of three British-colonial campaigns leading to the conquest of ‘New France.’ Later, it hosted the 1766 conference with British Indian Agent Sir William Johnson and Native American leaders that ended Pontiac’s Rebellion. The fort was also the objective of the last Continental Army campaign of the Revolutionary War. Held by Britain after the revolution, the fort was turned over to the United States in 1796 and was the scene of two War of 1812 battles.
A lighthouse keeper’s residence built on the fort grounds in 1822, is the oldest such residence on the Great Lakes and the second oldest in the United States. During the Civil War, the fort served as a Union Army recruit and training center. It was modernized as an U.S. Army infantry battalion post in 1905. During World War I, Fort Ontario was converted to use as a military hospital where medical personnel were trained before they were shipped abroad and soldiers and civilians were treated during the Great Influenza epidemic.
From 1919 to 1940, Fort Ontario once again served as a regular Army infantry post and from 1925 to 1940, it also housed a New York National Guard artillery summer training camp. In 1941, the fort was converted to a special unit training post where black and white anti-aircraft artillery regiments, military police battalions, cooks, bakers and quartermasters were trained. It also included a school where soldier-teachers taught illiterate or foreign-born men learned English and mathematics to meet draft requirements.
From August 1944 to February 1946, it became Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter and served as the only shelter in the United States to house victims of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. During the housing crisis following the war, it became an emergency veterans’ apartment complex.
Today, Fort Ontario and its environs include a New York State historic site, a holocaust museum, port facility, a city recreation area and a modern U.S. Army Reserve training center, continuing a history of military occupation of the post since 1755.
Fort Ontario is preserved by New York State as a shrine to those who served and sacrificed for our nation in war and in peace. It is a symbol of endurance, hope and inspiration in a complex, rapidly changing technological world.
Visitors can take self-guided walking tours and learn how soldiers and officers lived in the mid- to late 19th century. Explore the underground stone casemates and post cemetery or visit the museum shop. Enjoy scenic views from the ramparts, open recreational spaces and shaded picnic areas.
Celebrate the people and history of Fort Ontario with a variety of events including festivals and living history encampments, conferences and lectures, concerts and theatrical productions, lantern walking tours and the ever-popular Ghost Hunt and Reveal. For details, go to www.historicfortontario.com.
Make your visit a weekend adventure by staying in one of the nearby campgrounds on Lake Ontario!