It may not have been a high-profile Hollywood screening, but it was definitely a crowded showing.
At The Screening Room in Kingston, a sold-out audience gathered to view a short documentary called Remarkable Point Frederick. The downtown theatre had two screenings of the documentary.
Point Frederick, a part of the Royal Military College, was once the site of a Royal Navy dockyard. And it played a role in the War of 1812.
Susan Bazely, an archeologist based in Kingston, said the documentary is a good way to look at the historical significance of the site.
“This is really an opportunity to look back at those early phases starting with Indigenous use,” she said. “Going on through until the War of 1812 and the development and use of that piece of land right until the military college.”
Robert Banks is the author of Warriors and Warships, a book that looks at the history of the site.
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“It was here where the royal navy came and built a dockyard and ended up building warships that got involved in the war of 1812. (It) really changed the course of Canadian history,” he said.
The inspiration for his book, he said, came from his time with the Royal Military College.
“I was a cadet at the Royal Military College many years ago and I was inspired by the history of the college that I had heard.”
His book resulted in a tour and is now a short documentary. That documentary said Banks, also touches on the effects being felt by the site to this day.
“There’s a good chance that today’s undefended border, the longest undefended border in the world, was a direct result of what happened here on Point Frederick,” he said.
According to the Frontenac Heritage Foundation, the documentary will be available to view for free on their YouTube channel.
— With files from Global’s Fawwaz Muhammed-Yusuf.
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