Amherstburg

Amherstburg is a town of about 24,000 people (2021) near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County. The small town is rich in history, with several important heritage sites linked to the War of 1812 and the Underground Railroad.

Understand
Amherstburg is a city of trade and services to support regional agriculture. It has also become known for several wineries in the area.

Local industry includes Diageo, a whiskey distillery that produces the Crown Royal Canadian whiskey, Windsor Mold's Precision Plastics, one of Ontario's largest full-service suppliers of industrial plastics and thermoplastic, and Honeywell Performance Materials and Technology. Marathon Oil has a coke storage site near the river.

History
Across the Detroit River from what developed as the state of Michigan in the United States, the town was permanently established in 1796 as a British military fort overlooking the river's mouth at Lake Erie. Fort Malden was occupied as a garrison. The town was developed by Loyalists who were granted land by the Crown in Upper Canada in compensation for losses in the Thirteen Colonies, or as payment for service in the military, after the British lost the American Revolutionary War. This enabled the Crown to increase population in Upper Canada and develop it. The new settlers built many of their houses in the French style of a century before, giving the new town a historic character. French-speaking colonists also settled here, some who were descendants of the Petite Côte settlement along the river to the north. St. Jean was their Catholic church.

During the days of the Underground Railroad before the American Civil War, fugitive African-American slaves often crossed the river to escape to freedom in Canada, after the Crown abolished slavery. Detroit abolitionists William Lambert and especially George DeBaptiste were key to helping the slaves escape. DeBaptiste owned a lake steamboat which was used to offload fugitives in town while docked ostensibly to load lumber. They used Fort Malden as an entry point to Canada.

When the fort was no longer needed for military purposes, the government adapted it for use as a "lunatic asylum". Its main building was later used as a Port of Entry Money Order office and Post Office savings bank. The town is named after Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, commander of the British forces and first British Governor General of the Province of Quebec (1760).

Get in
Between Amherstburg and Windsor (the nearest local metropolis), there is no regularly scheduled bus line.

Amherstburg Taxi and South Shore Taxi occasionally operate a "shared ride service" from Amherstburg to the Devonshire Mall in Windsor.

Small boats are welcome to call at any one of three local marinas that serve Lake Erie and the Detroit River.

Get around

 * Amherstburg Ferry Company operates private ferry service to Bob-Lo Island community.
 * Amherstburg Taxi, +1 519-736-1761

Go next

 * Detroit — with a revitalizing downtown, historic neighbourhoods, and architectural gems a short distance across the river from Windsor.
 * Essex — at the center of one of Ontario's emerging wine regions.
 * Leamington and Kingsville — on the Lake Erie shore, with summer ferry services to Pelee Island.
 * Windsor — Canada's 'Automotive Capital' and a multi-cultural city on the Detroit River.