Browse "Historic sites"

Named in 1807 after NWC chief superintendent William MCGILLIVRAY, Fort William occupied a pivotal place in the company's vast trading network. In 1816-17 Lord SELKIRK occupied Fort William for 10 months as a consequence of the SEVEN OAKS INCIDENT.

The Fort York National Historic Site commemorates several British military installations which guarded the entrance to Toronto Harbour.

In 1858, around 30,000 gold seekers flooded the banks of the Fraser River from Hope to just north of Lillooet in British Columbia’s first significant gold rush. Although it dissipated by the mid-1860s, the Fraser River Gold Rush had a significant impact on the area’s Indigenous peoples and resulted in the Fraser Canyon War. Fears that the massive influx of American miners would lead the United States to annex the non-sovereign British territory known as New Caledonia also resulted in the founding of British Columbia as a colony on 2 August 1858 (see The Fraser River Gold Rush and the Founding of British Columbia). By the mid-1860s, the Fraser Rush collapsed, and British Columbia sank into a recession.

Gastown is a retail and commercial district in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is bounded by Cordova Street and the waterfront between Richards Street and Main Street. The original Gastown settlement formed the nucleus for the City of Vancouver and is now a National Historic Site. Today, Gastown is a popular tourist destination and home to restaurants, gift shops, boutiques, galleries, nightclubs and bars. It is also part of the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver’s lowest-income neighbourhood, and the location of single resident occupancy hotels, social housing and social services.

Gray Burial Site, north of Swift Current, Sask, lies on a sandy hillside west of an ancient glacial outwash channel.

Encompassing rainforests, alpine meadows and rocky shores of southern Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands), Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (1495 km2) harbours some species of plants and animals not found anywhere else on the globe.

Haliburton House, a 1½ storey villa in WINDSOR, NS, was built in 1836 and originally set in a 16 ha estate. It was the home of Thomas Chandler HALIBURTON, one of Nova Scotia's most famous 19th-century figures.

The general introduction of rifled artillery (with greater range and accuracy than earlier guns) shortly after completion of the Citadel rendered the costly installation obsolescent. It was partially rearmed in the 1860s and 1870s, and continued in use as a barracks into the 20th century.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is an archaeological site located on the southern end of the Porcupine Hills in southwest Alberta.

Hearts Content Cable Station is a provincial HISTORIC SITE commemorating one of the most significant events in the 19th century: the laying of a trans-Atlantic TELEGRAPH cable in 1866 from Ireland to HEART'S CONTENT, NL.

For generations, Hebron, one of Nunatsiavut’s (see Labrador Inuit and Newfoundland and Labrador) most culturally important and significant sites, was an important meeting place for the Inuit, as well as a primary hunting and fishing area. In the early 1800s, Moravian missionaries chose the site to establish their fourth and northernmost mission in Labrador, officially opening the mission in 1830 (although missions were later established farther north, at Ramah in 1871 and Killinek in 1905). For more than 130 years, Hebron was a thriving community where an average of 200 to 250 Inuit lived. In 1959, without consultation with the Inuit, the community was closed, forcing all Inuit to relocate. Declared a National Historic Site in 1976 by the federal government, the Hebron Mission has been undergoing major restoration since 2004.

Hundreds of trails are now found from coast to coast in Canada, installed and run by national and provincial parks, the Canadian Wildlife Service, tourist departments, conservation authorities, museums, universities, schools, botanical gardens and private agencies.

One of the most important fur trade sites on the PEACE RIVER, a post operated at Dunvegan from 1805 to 1918. The first post was built by Archibald Norman McLeod of the North West Company to trade with the BEAVER and other First Nations who lived in the middle and upper reaches of the Peace River.

Historic sites are places that are recognized for their importance in Canadian history. Provincial or territorial historic sites are designated by provincial and territorial governments, while national historic sites are designated by the federal government. At the federal level, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada also designates people and events of national significance, in addition to sites. These people and events are often commemorated by a plaque at a physical place. Municipalities also often have the authority to designate historic sites of local significance, as do Indigenous organizations under self-government agreements. Finally, historic sites may be designated at more than one level (e.g., provincial and national). (See also National Historic Sites in Canada; UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Canada).

The term Hochelaga historically referred to an Indigenous village the French explorer Jacques Cartier (1491-1557) visited on Sunday, 3 October 1535, during his second voyage in what is now Quebec (1535-1536). Hochelaga is an Iroquoian term which is either a variation of the word osekare, meaning “beaver path,” or of the word osheaga, which translates as “big rapids.” Today, Hochelaga refers to islands at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa rivers, as well as various electoral and city districts.