Niagara-on-the Lake: The Capital of Canada?
First called Newark, like the city in New Jersey, Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario was the first capital of Upper Canada. It was Newark until 1798, then Niagara from 1798 until 1906.
Since then, just plain Niagara-on-the-Lake. But “just plain” certainly doesn’t describe this lovely historic town just a few miles from Niagara Falls. Home to the Shaw Festival and located at the mouth of the Niagara River at Lake Ontario, Niagara-on-the-Lake was first settled by United Empire Loyalists in the mid-1780’s (United Empire Loyalists were those who had been settled in the thirteen colonies at the outbreak of the American Revolution, who remained loyal to and took up the Royal Standard, and who settled in what is now Canada at the end of the war. Niagara-on-the-Lake became the site of the Shaw Festival with the conversion of its court house into a theatre in 1962.
Click for many free pictures of Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario Canada
Help the moose, he’s stuck at Niagara Falls
We must remember that Niagara Falls is a massive tourist attraction. It has been since the early 1800’s, if not even earlier. I guess that’s why there’s a moose in the Table Rock store.
Yes, you’ll find all manner of “things” in the store at Table Rock and they all relate to Niagara Falls except maybe the moose. It’s not a real moose of course, but it gets a lot of attention from people wandering around the store. In fact it is probably photographed nearly as much as anything at Table Rock. Why a moose you ask. Well the moose is a symbol of Canada. You’ll find cartoons using moose relating to Canada by the hundreds. No make that “by the thousands”. The beaver is our official national animal, but you’ll find moose symbols everywhere. (picture by Chuck Camroux of www.GatewayNiagara.com).
