Fort Howe

From its position high above Saint John, Fort Howe once guarded the entrance to the Saint John River and the harbor below. The location offered British soldiers an expansive view of approaching ships and made the ridge a natural place from which to defend the settlement.

The fort was constructed in 1777 during the American Revolution. American privateers operating from Machias, in what is now Maine, had repeatedly raided the area, attacking settlements and disrupting British shipping. An earlier defensive post, Fort Frederick, stood on lower ground across the river but had been captured, looted, and burned.

Major Gilfred Studholme arrived with approximately fifty soldiers and orders to repair Fort Frederick or construct a new fort. Recognizing the advantage of the higher ridge, he chose this location. The fort was named for General Sir William Howe, then commander-in-chief of British forces in North America. Its defenses eventually included blockhouses, barracks, a palisade, and cannons overlooking the river and harbor.

When Loyalist refugees arrived following the American Revolution, Fort Howe provided military protection for the new settlements of Parr Town and Carleton. Its cannons fired a seventeen-gun salute in November 1784 to welcome Thomas Carleton, the first governor of the newly created Province of New Brunswick. The following year, the two settlements were joined to form the City of Saint John.

Fort Howe remained part of Saint John’s defenses through the War of 1812, when renewed conflict with the United States again made the harbor strategically important. A fire destroyed the fort in 1819, and much of the property was sold several years later. Little of the original fortification remains above ground.

The wooden blockhouse standing on the hill today is a full-size reconstruction erected in 1967 during Canada’s centennial. It represents one of the blockhouses that once formed part of the fort rather than an original surviving structure. Fort Howe was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1966.

Standing beside the reconstructed blockhouse, with the modern port visible below, makes the reason for Fort Howe’s location immediately clear. The view that allows visitors to watch ships entering Saint John today once enabled British soldiers to search the same waters for approaching privateers.