Hwy 33 at the Glenora Ferry, Adolphustown	THE ROYAL UNION FLAG 1707-1801 Originally designed in 1606, this flag was officially adopted in 1707 by England and Scotland as their royal standard at the time of the union of the thrones and parliaments of both countries. It consists of the blue background and white diagonal cross of St. Andrew, Patron Saint of Scotland, with superimposed the red cross of St. George, Patron Saint of England. The white piping is a heraldic device used to separate the blue and red portions. When the American Revolution began in 1775, many people remained loyal to the British crown. By the end of the war, most were compelled to leave the thirteen colonies. About 2000 of a much larger number settled the townships in and around this area. They and their descendants are known as United Empire Loyalists. This royal standard was their flag. ERECTED 1998 BY KINGSTON AND DISTRICT BRANCH OF THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS’ ASSOCIATION OF CANADA WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE FOUNDATION.
Hwy 33 at the Glenora Ferry, Adolphustown	BAY OF QUINTE LOYALIST SETTLEMENT This region was among the first in present day Ontario to receive loyalist settlers following the American Revolution. Surveying began in 1783 and by the following year five townships had been laid out between the Cataraqui River and the east end of the Isle of Quinte (Kingston, Ernestown, Fredericksburgh, Adolphustown and Marysburgh). Loyalist refugees and discharged soldiers arrived to take up land grants in these five Cataraqui townships in 1784. That same year Iroquois loyalists settled lands granted to them on the north shore of this bay. These and other loyalist settlements west of the Ottawa River prompted the British government to establish the province of Upper Canada in 1791. Ontario Heritage Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario
UEL Park, Adolphustown	THE LOYALIST LANDING PLACE 1784 On June 16, 1784, a party of some 250 United Empire Loyalists landed from bateaux near this site and established the first permanent white settlement in Adolphustown Township. They had sailed from new York in the fall of 1783 under the leadership of Major Peter Van Alstine (1747-1811) a Loyalist of Dutch ancestry, and passed the winter at Sorel. Van Alstine was later appointed a justice of the peace, represented this area in the first Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and built at Glenora the earliest grist-mill in Prince Edward County.
St. Alban’s Anglican Church Adolphustown Village	LOYALIST MEMORIAL CHURCH The first Anglicans of Adolphustown were Loyalists who arrived in 1784. Early services were conducted at the home of Nicholas Hagerman by the Rev. John Langhorn who, from 1787 to 1813 was the resident missionary for the Townships of Ernesttown and Fredericksburgh. In 1822 a frame church named St. Paul’s was built, which still stands just west of this site. In that year Adolphustown became a mission and its first resident clergyman, the Rev. Job Deacon, served until 1850. The present church of St. Alban-the-Martyr, erected 1884-88, was built through public subscriptions as a memorial to the Loyalists of the area. Erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board.
South Shore Road, north of Dorland, Adolphustown	THE QUAKERS OF ADOLPHUSTOWN The first Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in either Upper or Lower Canada was organized in Adolphustown Township in 1798 at the house of Philip Dorland. Quakers had settled in this district in 1784 and at first held religious gatherings in private homes. In 1798 a frame meeting house was authorized and shortly thereafter it was erected on this site. A Monthly Meeting was formed in 1801 which aided the formation of further Quaker Meetings in the Bay of Quinte area. A new meeting house was built here in 1868 but was abandoned after the Monthly Meeting was discontinued in 1871 and only this burying ground remains. Erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board
South Shore Road, north-east of Dorland Adolphustown	HAY BAY CHURCH 1792 In 1791, William Losee, an itinerant preacher, organized in this district the first Methodist circuit in Upper Canada. This Meeting House. Upper Canada’s first Methodist chapel, was built in 1792. Enlarged in 1834-35 it was used for worship until about 1860 after which it served as a farmer’s storehouse. In 1910 in recognition of its historical significance, it was reacquired and restored by The Methodist Church and is still used for annual services by The United Church of Canada. Erected by the Ontario Archaeological and Historic Sites Board
South Shore Road, just west of the Old Hay Bay Church, Adolphustown	SIR JOHN ALEXANDER MACDONALD 1815-1891 Born in Scotland, the young Macdonald returned frequently during his formative years to his parents' home here on the Bay of Quinte. His superb skills kept him at the centre of public life for fifty years. The political genius of Confederation, he became Canada's first prime minister in 1867, held that office for nineteen years (1867-73 and 1878-91), and presided over the expansion of Canada to its present boundaries excluding Newfoundland. His National Policy and the building of the CPR were equally indicative of his determination to resist the north-south pull of geography and to create and preserve a strong country politically free and commercially autonomous.
Hwy 33, West of Conway South Fredericksburgh	HAZELTON SPENCER 1757-1813 An important figure in early Upper Canada, Spencer was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. During the American revolution, he fought with the British forces and in 1784, when his unit was disbanded, he settled here. Widely acknowledged as a man of ability and stature, Spencer quickly achieved prominence. He represented this region in the province’s first parliament (1792-96) and secured several judicial and administrative appointments. Continuing his distinguished military career he was commissioned an officer in the Royal Canadian Volunteer Regiment and served in the garrison at Kingston (1797-1800) where he was commandant and at Fort George (1800-02). Spencer gained his highest office in 1794, however, with his appointment as Lieutenant of the County of Lennox. He held this prestigious post until his death.
St. Paul’s Anglican Church Sandhurst, South Fredericksburgh	LIEUT.-COL. JAMES ROGERS 1726-1790 Born in Ireland, Rogers emigrated with his family to Massachusetts Bay colony about 1730. During the Seven Years’ War he served in the Queen’s Rangers (Rogers’ Rangers), a provincial corps raised by his brother Robert and was present at the capture of Louisbourg and of Quebec. In the American Revolution he commanded the 2^nd Battalion Kings Rangers thereby forfeiting some 50,000 acres in the old colonies. In 1784 he led a party of about 300 disbanded Kings Rangers and their families to this vicinity where they were granted land. Rogers, who first settled in Fredericksburgh where he became lieutenant-colonel of the militia, lived for a time in Prince Edward county but returned to his township before his death. Archaeological and Historic Sites Board of Ontario
McDowall Memorial Cemetery Sandhurst, South Fredericksburgh	THE REV. ROBERT JAMES McDOWALL 1768-1841 Born at Ballston Spa, near Saratoga, new York, McDowall graduated from the Union Theological Seminary, Schenectady, and was ordained by the Dutch Reformed church at Albany in 1797. A year later he was sent to Canada and ministered to the Presbyterians in the Bay of Quinte area. He organized congregations in Ernesttown and Adolphustown Townships, and in Fredericksburg Township where he settled in 1800. A zealous missionary, McDowall travelled extensively preaching and performing marriage ceremonies at numerous centres between Elizabethtown (Brockville) and York (Toronto). His efforts as the first appointed missionary of the Dutch Reformed church in Canada helped to lay the foundation for the development of Presbyterianism in Ontario. He died at Sandhurst and was buried in the adjoining cemetery. Erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation Ministry of Culture and Recreation
Hwy 33 West of County Rd 21, South Fredericksburgh	UPPER CANADA'S FIRST WINDMILL In the late 1780s, Sergeant John Howell, a Loyalist, came from Oswego NY State, to settle on Lot 15, Concession 1, Fredericksburgh. Lot 15 was a Crown grant of 200 acres running north from the shore of Lake Ontario at this site. Sergeant Howell had been a member of Sir John Johnson's Battalion and later joined Butler's Rangers. It was some time during the 1790s that he constructed the first windmill in Upper Canada on his property. The windmill, approximately 10 metres in diameter and of stone construction, was likely used to pump water up from the lake. In 1803 James Russell, an engineer and head carpenter at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, purchased the windmill property. The windmill was fortified for protection against a potential American invasion during the War of 1812. It is unknown how long the windmill remained operational, but by 1877 its tower was in ruins. Today only a shadowy imprint of the windmill's foundation, some 45 metres north of here, marks the site of Upper Canada's first windmill. ERECTED BY THE ADOLPHUSTOWN-FREDERICKSBURGH HERITAGE SOCIETY IN 2012
Hwy 33 at County Rd 21, South Fredericksburgh	ESCAPE OF THE ROYAL GEORGE 1812 Opposite here is the gap between Amherst Island and the eastern tip of Prince Edward County. On November 9, 1812, the British corvette “Royal George” (22 guns), commanded by Commodore Hugh Earl(e), was intercepted off False Duck Islands by an American fleet, comprising seven ships under commodore Isaac Chauncey. Pursued by the enemy, “Royal George” escaped through this gap, into the Bay of Quinte’s North Channel. The chase resumed in light winds the following day when she arrived safely in Kingston harbour. Chauncey, intent on capturing the largest British warship then on lake Ontario, attacked her in the harbour but after exchanging fire with “Royal George” and shore batteries was forced to withdraw. Erected by the Ontario Archaeological and historic Sites Board.
Hwy 33 East of County Rd 21, South Fredericksburgh	Upper Gap Archaeological Site First Nations peoples lived in this area thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. In 1995, archaeological evidence of Iroquoian settlement was discovered nearby. The artifacts found reflected several periods of habitation dating from A.D. 700 to A.D 1400 and included the remains of decorated ceramic pots, vessels for cooking and storage, and stone tools. Hundreds of years ago, the Iroquois lived in longhouses and practised an agricultural way of life, cultivating primarily corn, beans and squash. This site was likely chosen for its strategic location overlooking the open channel, or Upper Gap between Amherst Island and Cressy Point. It provided access to Lake Ontario for fishing, hunting, gathering, ceremonial purposes and for other Aboriginal peoples. Ontario Heritage Foundation , an agency of the Government of Ontario