It is a unit of Fort George National Historic Site located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, then known as Newark, Upper Canada.

It consisted of a small shipyard, docks, stores and residences, and was a local supply depot, as well as a trans-shipment point for posts on the upper Great Lakes.

The next year, Simcoe decided to move the capital to York, Upper Canada (now Toronto), a site less vulnerable to attack from the United States.

Destroyed by U.S. artillery fire in the War of 1812, some of the fort's buildings were re-built by the British, and today's Navy Hall is the only one remaining of that reconstruction.

It served as a medical commissary during World War I for Canadian troops at what became Camp Niagara, a site preparing soldiers for overseas service.