The fort consisted of a blockhouse, powder magazine, bakery building, Indian council house and storehouse surrounded by a palisade.

Situated on approximately 325 hectares along the St. Marys River, Fort St. Joseph was the staging ground for the initial attack in the War of 1812.

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed and the newly formed United States was awarded Michilimackinac, a trading post on Mackinac Island where Lakes Huron and Michigan connect.

Lord Dorchester had hoped to compete with and possibly replace Michilimackinac as the hub of the fur trade in the region while keeping Aboriginal allegiance.

It came into effect in 1796 and finally compelled the withdrawal of British forces from frontier forts which were awarded to the Americans under the treaty.

On 16 July 1812, Captain Roberts and an army of British soldiers, French Canadian voyageurs (most of them from nearby Sault Ste.

It wasn't until shortly after World War II that a road was built to the site and a small picnic area established.