Prescott, Ontario- Friday, August 23, 2024

     Without a major trip this summer, and without a major re-enactment either, Scott blocked off this weekend in August to go to the “Battle of the Windmill” in Prescott, Ontario.  You’ll be able to read a lot more about that as the blog continues over these next few days.

     He left on his own around 9:45 this morning and drove to Ogdensburg, New York.  That town is so far north that we’ve only been to it once before, and that was because of an 1812 200^th anniversary walk, so it was probably about 10 or 11 years ago.   After more than four hours of driving, he crossed span of the Saint Lawrence River on the Ogdensburg-Prescott Bridge, which was a very high long, bridge with a  odd-feeling metal surface.  It almost felt as though if you could look out straight down out of the car window that you would be looking through a grating, down into the river below.

     Across the river from Ogdensburg, NY. Is Prescott, Ontario, his destination.  He stopped by Fort Wellington, which is impressive for being a small fort, and checked in with the re-enactors who had already started to arrive.  He knew he had to check into the hostel where he was staying, but that proved to be a bit of a challenge.  The hostel was less than a ½ mile from the fort and on the main street in town, but once he reached it, he found that he needed a code to put into the keypad to enter the facility.  There was no staff there.  He had left the phone with Julie so he wasn’t sure what to do next until he realized that he had brought a laptop with him.  Now, he had to find Wifi.  By asking a passing pedestrian, he was directed to the Tim Horton’s for their Wifi.  He went there, ordered a bagel, and read the website for the hostel.  The website suggested that he should have received a code for the keypad earlier, by email or text message.  Since he clearly hadn’t gotten an email, he had to check with Julie to see if there was a text.  He went back to the fort, and borrowed Sgt. Dave’s phone.  While waiting for Julie to respond, he also called the phone number that he had found.  That paid off and he was able to get into the hostel finally.

      He won’t list the name of the hostel here (though it wouldn’t be hard to deduce it if you tried), but it is easily the strangest place that he has ever stayed, way out stranging the previous title holder from Switzerland.  The advertisements say that it has an atmosphere like a “spa,” and in some ways that is true.  You have to take off your shoes when you enter.  Slippers are offered, but Scott chose to go barefoot or in socks instead.   When you enter, you are in the “common area” with chairs, a TV, a kitchen area and two of the common bathrooms.  A “long-term” guest showed him where his room was.  You first enter into the “quiet area.”  Scott then had to go up some iron stairs to his room.   The website said that the room has a double bed in an 8 foot x 8 foot space.  That was fine, given the relative cheapness of the room, so Scott was ready for that.  What it didn’t say was that it was 8 ft x 8 ft x 5 ½ feet.  The ceiling was that low and Scott had to begin to duck at the top of the stairs and could not stand up straight in the room.  To change his shirt, he had to sit in a chair.  Also, there was no door—just a curtain to pull across the doorway.  The room was certainly…. different.  Maybe he’s just not used to hosteling.

      After settling into the room, he drove out to the site of the Battle of the Windmill, just to see it.  We will be spending some re-enacting time there on Sunday.  He was disappointed to see that the Windmill Brewery across the street was already closed, so he drove back to the Beer Store that he had seen near the Tim Horton’s in order to get some beer for later, then went to the Burger King across the street for dinner which included poutine.  He then went back to the fort and found that the guys were preparing to go to dinner.  He went with them, stopped by his room to change into period clothes, and rejoined the group at the Irish pub down the street.

     After dinner, the group of reenactors returned to the fort.  Scott regretted leaving the video camera back in the car because he would have loved to have taken video of the toasts that were made—to Queen Victoria, to President Martin Van Buren, and to William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis Joseph Papineau (the Patriot leaders of the Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada).   They spent time chatting in camp and around the fire.  Scott eventually made his way back to the hostel for the night.