Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake was originally built by the British between 1796 and 1799 and played an important role during the War of 1812. After being badly damaged during the war, the fort was eventually abandoned and sat largely in ruins for more than a century. That changed in the 1930s, when Fort George was selected for reconstruction as part of Depression-era public works programs and a growing interest in heritage tourism. Work began in 1937, using historic plans and a bit of interpretation and educated guesswork when there were gaps in the records. Rebuilding the fort required a lot of timber. To keep things authentic, experienced workers hand-hewed and pit-sawed the wood using methods familiar to early-19th-century builders. In this photograph, one of the workers is shown working on the blockhouse. So, while most of what we see at Fort George today is reconstructed rather than original, it still gives us a pretty good idea of what a British military fort would have looked around 1812.