Description of Historic Place
Queenston Heights is an extensive hillside area on the Niagara escarpment, centred on a heavily wooded, landscaped park which includes an elegant 57.9 metres (190 foot), classical column containing Sir Isaac Brock's grave. The park marks the site of the Battle of Queenston Heights in the War of 1812.
Queenston Heights was declared a national historic site of Canada because:
- the Battle of Queenston Heights was fought here when an attempted invasion by American troops was repulsed by British/Canadian forces early in the War of 1812,
- the importance of Queenston Heights, and the difficulty of achieving a meaningful historic interpretation at Lundy's Lane, renders this the main battlefield to be interpreted in commemorating the War of 1812 in the Niagara Peninsula.
The heritage value of Queenston Heights National Historic Site of Canada resides in the completeness of the found forms and spatial inter-relationships of the remaining cultural landscape of the large area over which the battle was fought. This includes the landing place in Queenston, the locations of the defending British batteries, the portage road, the Redan battery, the cliffs, the slope upon which the British charges were made and where Major/Gen. Brock and Lt/Col. Macdonnell died, Sheaffe's march, and the Heights where the British victory was secured. Fort Drummond, a feature of Queenston Heights, has been separately recognized as a national historic site of Canada.
Sources: HSMBC Minutes, June 1968; Commemorative Integrity Statement, 1989.
Key features contributing to the heritage value of this site include:
- the cultural landscape as a product of its parts including archaeological remains, natural landscape, built landscape features including military defence works, the portage road, the Redan Battery and Fort Drummond,
- the spatial relationships of these resources,
- the found forms of the Redan Battery, including its earthworks, breastworks and expense magazine,
- the found forms, materials, and associated earthworks of Fort Drummond,
- the remains of Vrooman's Battery,
- the natural features of the site relevant to the battle, including the landing place at Queenston, the cliffs, the slope upon which British charges occurred, Sheaffe's route of march, and the plateau on the Heights,
- the found form, route, and continuing legibility of remnants of the portage road from Queenston to Chippewa,
- the viewplanes of the portage road from the Battery, from the Heights to Lewiston and to Queenston, from the road from Niagara-on-the-Lake Brock's Monument, and from the Redan Battery to the Niagara River,
- the memorials including early markers, the Laura Secord Memorial, and Brock's Monument,
- Brock's Monument in its Queenston limestone material and high level of craftsmanship, including its Neoclassical design as a 57.9 metres, fluted Composite order column on a rusticated stone basement and sculpted pedestal; its low enclosing wall with 6.1 metres, classical "trophy" statues at the corners; the 4.9 metres statue of Brock; the functional design as observation tower with interior staircase lit by loopholes ascending to the viewing platform; the ground-floor entry and crypt with granite floor slabs.