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Esquimalt installs new interpretive signage for Fort Macaulay

The project was made possible through Canada 150 funding
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Sign designer Chris Edley, local military historian Jack Bates and municipal archivist Greg Evans check out the placement of the newly installed interpretive signs at Fort Macaulay. CoURTESY TOWNSHIP OF ESQUIMALT

If you take a walk through Macaulay Point Park, you’re bound to learn a little more about the area.

The historic coastal defence fortress built in 1895 now has new signage, as part of funding from the federal government in celebration of Canada 150.

The new interpretive signage was installed by the Township of Esquimalt, a project long in the making and timely for Remembrance Day, Mayor Barb Desjardins said.

“Visitors to the site can now get a fuller understanding and appreciation of the military history of this historic site,” she added.

As you hike the park’s paths, the signs will trace the history of the fort, a site placed on Esquimalt’s Heritage Register in 2013. Macaulay Point is part of the original Victoria-Esquimalt Coastal Defence Fortification System, that also included Fort Rodd Hill – coastal defences that protected the west coast until after the Second World War.

The new signage will also help to paint a picture from days gone past about the buildings still in tact on the site, which the Township has leased from the Department of National Defence since 1985. The DND provided input during the planning of the project, created by sign designer Chris Edley.

Along with the new signs, a map brochure will be available at Municipal Hall as an guide for visitors to the site.

kristyn.anthony @vicnews.com