Historic Hamilton: Dundurn National Historic Site
Historic Hamilton will be a series of caches that serve to bring cachers to historic places in and around the City of Hamilton. These caches can be placed by anyone, and are not limited to one owner. If you know of a historic place in the City of Hamilton to which you would like to bring people, feel free to add it to the series!
Cache is a bison tube that contains a log. Please bring your own writing instrument to sign and replace as found. Cache is well covered to prevent it from being muggled, but this area is always busy.
One of Hamilton's most-recognized landmarks, Dundurn Castle illustrates the life and times of Sir Allan Napier MacNab (1798 - 1862). It is part of the Dundurn National Historic Site. This was the magnificent home of Sir Allan Napier MacNab, premier of the pre-Confederation Canadas from from 1854 to 1856. You can take a tour and discover mid-19th-century style in more than 40 rooms on three floors.
Dundurn Castle was constructed over a three-year period, and completed by 1835. Designed by a young English Architect, Robert Wetherall, Dundurn was built around the brick shell of Colonel Richard Beasley's colonial home. Designed as a fashionable Regency style villa, Dundurn (Gaelic for "strong fort") was nicknamed "Castle" by the citizens of Hamilton. The Castle, with its gardens, grounds and many unusual outbuildings, was one of the finest estates in the province.
Dundurn Castle is located on a height of land known as Burlington Heights. During the War of 1812, the British Army established a military post at the site. Sir Allan MacNab later incorporated elements of the post into the construction of Dundurn Castle during the 1830's.
Today, Dundurn Castle has been restored to the year 1855 when MacNab was at the height of his career as a lawyer, landowner, railway magnate and Premier of the United Canada's (1854-56). Over forty rooms, above and below stairs, have been furnished to compare the life of a prominent Victorian family with that of their servants.
MacNab, born in Niagara-on-the-Lake, came to Hamilton from York in 1826 to begin his career as a lawyer. Having lost his first wife Elizabeth Brookes that same year, he raised his two children Robert and Anne Jane as a widower. In 1831, MacNab married Mary Stuart and had two more children, Sophia and Minnie. During the construction of Dundurn, his son Robert was killed in a hunting accident. MacNab was an important figure in the pre-Confederation history of Canada. He was declared a "Boy Hero" for his role in the War of 1812. Following his support of the royalist cause in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, Queen Victoria knighted MacNab. Sir Allan MacNab left his mark on the growing town of Hamilton by helping to establish the railway, the first bank and representing the area for thirty years in Parliament.
Congratulations to jtee and .Boy on the FTF!