Facelift for Fort Wellington

Posted By Nick Gardiner, Staff Writer

Fort Wellington's aging visitor centre is being replaced with a $2-million administration and interpretive building as part of a series of investments to be completed by 2012 at several Parks Canada historic sites.

Details of the local project will be forthcoming at a formal announcement at a still-undetermined date next month, according to Parks Canada officials.

Fort Wellington site manager Anne-Marie Johnson said she will wait until the local announcement before commenting on the project but noted it is a welcomed decision.

"I just want to say that we're very excited," Johnson told The Recorder and Times.

"It's great news for Fort Wellington and the Town of Prescott."

Johnson said the existing visitor centre was built about 50 years ago when it consisted of two separate buildings joined by a breezeway. The breezeway was since enclosed, but the premises remain too small and lacking amenities for visitors.

When a bus tour arrives, for instance, there's no room to hold everyone comfortably, she said.

Even the washrooms are located outside the visitor centre, adjacent but with separate entrances, Johnson noted.

Moreover, administrative work takes place in a separate trailer beside the visitor centre.

Johnson said the project is expected to be completed by 2012, in time for the War of 1812 bicentennial celebrations.

The timing of construction and other details of the project have yet to be determined, Parks Canada spokesman Elizabeth Pilon said during a phone interview from her office in Smiths Falls.

Pilon said more information will be provided at an announcement next month at Fort Wellington. She referred other questions to Carol Sheedy, director general of Parks Canada east region.

Sheedy wasn't available at her Halifax office on Thursday.

The Fort Wellington project is one of 14 improvements scheduled at Parks Canada sites in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick in preparation for bicentennial celebrations of the War of 1812. Total cost for the projects is $12 million.

The projects were originally announced in Niagara on the Lake May 1 by Jim Prentice, federal Minister of the Environment with responsibility for Parks Canada.

In a written backgrounder for the May 1 announcement provided by Parks Canada to The Recorder and Times, funds earmarked for Fort Wellington will provide a new administrative and interpretive centre equipped to accommodate more visitors and offer them an enhanced experience.

Furthermore, the project is touted as an "important legacy as a celebration of our heritage and a continuing contributor to our economy."

Funding was provided in the 2009 budget under the government's economic action plan.

I just want to say that we're very excited. It's great news for Fort Wellington and the Town of Prescott."

Fort Wellington site manager Anne-Marie Johnson

Article ID# 1671639