Government House (King’s Head Inn)

Government House (King’s Head Inn). . , In 1794, with Europe caught in the turmoil of the French Revolution and talk of war with the United States widespread, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe found the frontiers of Upper Canada seriously isolated and threatened by the young American republic to the south. In response, he immediately set out to link the far-reaching corners of the colony of Upper Canada. Here, at the head of Lake Ontario where trails converged from York (Toronto), Niagara, and the Thames Valley in the west, Simcoe built a government house, later called the King's Head Inn., The Inn's strategic site was located at the "Carrying Place" or Indian portage between Lake Ontario and the mouth of the Red Hill Creek within fifty meters of this plaque. Described as a large two-storey, eight room, wooden structure with two low wings at the rear joined by a colonnade, the Inn was the first government building in this area. It also served as a public house and way station., Because of its military importance, an American naval raiding party from the schooners, Governor Tomkins and Conquest, destroyed the supply depot on May 10, 1813. This action was part of the preparation for the invasion of the Niagara Peninsula, repulsed at Stoney Creek on June 6, 1813.