Day 17 - Halifax, NS Part 2

If we wanted to reduce our trip to three words it could be "trees, lighthouses, and forts." Those were the three constants of the trip. Our next stop was the Citadel atop a hill in the middle of Halifax. Of course this picture isn't it - this is one of the two companion forts built to defend the whole harbor. Another fort was across the bay.

Though it was initially built in the 1700's it was never captured by enemy armies. If you build a fort correctly, in a perfectly defensible position, it should be successful and this one was. This was the inner wall of the fort - using natural defense (earth) the walls were up to 25 feet thick. The big cannon ringed the fort and living quarters were under the guns built into the wall.This was our guide dressed in enlisted soldier clothes. He is actually a volunteer for the local preservation society.

This volunteer is dressed as a British officer as they would have been dressed during the Revolutionary War.

The inner walls were surrounded by another, even bigger, outer wall. With the dual walls, and being in a star shape, any attackers would have a terrible time actually defeating this fort. Any attackers who could get down in between the walls would face rifle fire and cannon shots from three directions. The narrow slits are rifle locations and the rectangles are where cannons would be placed.

How do you get messages out? Indians use signal fires, but the British used flags. The shorter pole was for messages to the other forts and the taller one was for hanging of the flags of the ships coming in or those in port. It would fly company flags of commercial ships. The flags of navies could also be flown here so everyone would know who was in port.

Oops - here is a mess up. This artwork is called "Fishermen's Monument" by William DeGarthe out at Peggy's Cove. Somehow I forgot to put this in the last post. It took this man years to carve the granite memorial.