Travel: Day 3, Fort Malden, Canada
Windsor, Canada, is just across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan. The border crossing can be completed via the Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. One goes over the river and one goes under it.
Right now, there’s major construction going on by the bridge on the US side. Otherwise, I didn’t see much difference time-wise on the crossing. The tunnel does deposit you in the centers of Detroit and Windsor while the bridge is more to the south. The tunnel’s current rate is $3.75, and I think the bridge is one dollar more.
Pay attention to the daily traffic reports and you’ll get the crossing information you need. Since my friend and I only had one day, we entered Canada via the bridge and returned through the tunnel. Both were very interesting and worth the trip.
Rather than focusing on Windsor, we headed south along the river to Amherstburg and Fort Malden. The drive is familiar and strange at the same time. From what I saw, the area is farm country. There were many standard rural markers, such as pick-up trucks, country houses, and flags flying from porches. The flags, however, were Canadian ones.
Of course, right? But it still made things feel like a parallel universe. Everything was so similar but just a bit off.
We made sure to take our passports, but we didn’t have to change our cash, because every business we encountered in this area of Canada took US dollars, although not always US coins.
Fort Malden served as a significant post during the War of 1812. It was also staffed on and off throughout the next couple of decades.
The site has some amazingly preserved original breastworks. As you may expect from a river fort location, it is also a very scenic way to see the Detroit River shore. A small museum narrates the fort’s involvements and uses. There is also a restored bunkhouse and a very limited gift shop.
I found the guides and rangers (are the Canadian Park service folks also called rangers?) extremely knowledgeable and eager to help. The entry fee is just $3.90 US. Plan about an hour and a half for the visit. Unfortunately, we were too early in the season to enjoy their demonstrations and weaponry displays. I would have loved that.
For the rest of the day, we drove south following the river until we reached Lake Erie. Unfortunately, it rained the second half of the day so we didn’t get to explore much, but we did get to see a lot of the countryside. My friend made the observation that the farms tended to have newer houses, and the larger barn structures, that would usually house the farming machinery, were missing. We couldn’t figure out why that was.