Belvedere Elizabeth Queen is a scenic spot. It has small free parking with a good hike downhill.

“We have driven by this wonderful lookout point so many times over the years and always said we should stop there one time. Last time we did stop and were treated to a beautiful view. It’s gorgeous”.

Willowbank is best known for the impressive Greek Revival mansion designed and built in 1834 for Alexander Hamilton, sheriff of the Niagara District, by John Latshaw. Alexander Hamilton was the third son of the Honourable Robert Hamilton, one of the founders of Upper Canada.

This National Historic Site of Canada is a gracious treed estate with a large three-and-a-half-storey temple-fronted mansion. Willowbank is named after magnificent willow trees that once graced its grounds.

Sited on a height of land overlooking the Niagara River, the mansion is the centrepiece of wooded, five-hectare property at the north end of the village of Queenston.

Exactly one hundred years later in 1934, the Bright Family—pioneers in both wine and orchard industries—purchased the property just as the Niagara Parkway was being completed.

Now Willowbank is owned and operated by the Willowbank School of Restoration Arts. The school is dedicated to the teaching of all arts and skills related to the restoration of built heritage.

Willowbank is open to the public for tours through the summer months and from September to May by appointment.

The Willowbank graveyard is one of the most interesting parts of the Willowbank property. It is on a small plot of land located northwest of the mansion itself and is surrounded by a low stone wall and trees. The only people buried at the Willowbank graveyard who were not a part of the extended Hamilton family are Maj.-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock and his adjutant John Macdonell.

Probably, our post office is the first in Upper Canada.

Queenston became a port of customs in 1801, with Thomas Dickson being its first collector of customs. The following year, 1802, it became a post office, which it still retains, making it one of the longest continuing post offices in Ontario.

Much of the mail going to Britain passed through Queenston and went on to New York.

In 1829, the same year the Welland Canal opened, the postmaster general moved the official post office to Niagara.

Part of Underground Railroad story

“Tryon’s Folly” was part of the Underground Railroad helping American slaves escape to freedom in Canada. You can see this unique house across the river in Lewiston, USA.

From the street, it looks like a normal house, but the view from the river reveals a series of four basements. It was this site that, for possibly hundreds, represented freedom.

Amos Tryon built the home in 1830 for his wife. He added the elaborate series of cellars with the idea that it made it easier to transport goods up from the river to the house level.

Amo’s brother Josiah was a tailor in Lewiston, but also an elder at the Presbyterian Church. The church became very active on the Underground Railroad. Josiah was known as a “station master”. With the help of Amo’s idle home, Josiah was able to sneak possibly hundreds of escaped slaves down the gorge wall, to the river and row them across to Canada and freedom.

Photo by Franc McPhee