KINGS COUNTY

Eagle's Nest Blockhouse and Battery
Highway #124 near the Evansdale Ferry, between Kars and Tennants Cove

A fortification was built on a commanding position on the east bank of the St John River where the river is very narrow and provides an extensive view up and down the valley. During the French period the location was known as Nid d'Aigle, and local tradition holds that a French military post was located at this strategic spot; however, no evidence has yet been found to support the claim. During the War of 1812, at what was referred to as either the Eagle's Nest or Worden's, the British built a half-moon battery commanding the river, with a magazine in the rear, and a blockhouse on the crest of the hill some 200 feet above the water. By 1825 a military survey reported the fortification in a state of ruin.

Fort de Nerpice or Fort Boishebert
Highway #102, Woodsman's Point near GrandBay-Westfield

In the summer of 1749, Pierre, Sieur de Boishebert was sent with a detachment of French soldiers to the mouth of the St John River to establish a settlement and re-establish a French fort. He fixed his headquarters ten miles up river, at the mouth of the Nerepis River, because the area of the Saint John harbour was in dispute with the British. At what is now called Woodman's Point, Boishebert built a small fort on the site of an earlier Native fort. It was known as Fort de Nerepice or Fort Boishebert. In 1751 Boishebert's replacement, Sieur de Gaspe kept his headquarters at Fort de Nerepice while building a fort at the mouth of the St John. Shortly after, because he did not have sufficient troops to adequately man both forts, de Gaspe was given permission to abandon Fort de Nerepice. A Historic Sites and Monuments Board plaque is located near the site.

Colonel Henry Nase's Mount Hope Home
#690 Nerepis Road, near Westfield

Connecticut born Henry Nase joined the Loyalist Regiment known as the King's American Regiment in 1778 as a private soldier. He worked his way through to ranks to Regiment Sergeant Major and at the end of the American Revolutionary War was commissioned ensign. He saw extensive action in New York, Rhode Island and in the Southern Campaign. After the war he received a land grant on the Nerepis River and built this house in 1786. He eventually became a colonel in the local militia.

Camp Sussex
Sussex

In May 1885 the New Brunswick militia assembled in Camp Sussex to prepare for service in the North West Rebellion. There is a series of colour post cards on display in the Tea House Museum on Maple Street showing Sussex Camp cira 1910. It was a large tented camp. During World War One, the First Training Battalion of the New Brunswick Regiment was established in Camp Sussex. In 1918 it was called the 1^st Depot Battalion and was under command of Lieutenant Colonel James McAvity. The Tea House Museum at a composite photograph of this unit. It was still largely a tented camp. When the mobilization of the 3^rd Division was approved during World War Two, it was decided to concentrate it in the Maritimes under command of New Brunswicker Major-General E.W. Sansom. One of the areas selected was the existing camp at Sussex. The camp was enlarged to handle a brigade group and the units began to arrive in the autumn of 1940 to undergo training prior to embarkation. When the 3^rd Division left for overseas, it was replaced by units from the 4^th Division. When it went overseas, it was replaced by the 17^th Infantry Brigade of the 7^th Division, the general reserve for Atlantic Command. In April 1943 this brigade consisted of the Victoria Rifles of Canada, The Dufferin & Haldimand Rifles of Canada and the Les Voltigeurs de Quebec. In early 1944 A-34 Special Officer's Training Center was established for one year in Camp Sussex to train officers for the CANLOAN programme. Photographs in the Tea House Museum shows the camp was a typical World War Two camp consisting of wooden "H" huts.

The training camp was closed and the land purchased by the Town of Sussex. Leonard Drive runs through the old camp site, but there are few landmarks left. The NB Agricultural Museum is located on the site of a tank hanger and two large pine tree behind the community centre mark the location of the officers' mess. A modern armoury is named in memory of Brigadier Milton Gregg VC and is home to "B" Squadron of the 8^th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's). There is a Sherman Tank named "Balaclava" on display outside the armoury. Although the old rifle range located on Fowler Ave is no longer used as a firing range, it is still Department of National Defence property.

Brigadier Milton Gregg VC
United Baptist Church Cemetery, Snider Mountain, off Highway #2, near Berwick

Brigadier the Honourable Milton Fowler Gregg VC, PC, OC, CBE, MC, ED, was born at Snider Mountain on 11 April 1892, died on 13 March 1978, and is buried in his family plot in the United Baptist Church Cemetery. During the fighting at the Marcoing Line in the Battle of Cambrai on 27 September 1918, when the advance was held up by thick uncut wire, Lieutenant Gregg MC of the Royal Canadian Regiment, crawled forward alone to locate a gap in the wire, then led his men successfully through it and into the German trench. When the enemy counter-attacked and ammunition ran low, Gregg returned under heavy fire for a resupply although he was wounded. Wounded a second time, Gregg re-organized his remaining men and continued to clear German trenches. For this action, he added a Victoria Cross to the Military Cross he had earned a year earlier. The barracks in CFB Gagetown occupied by the 2^nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment is named in honour on Brigadier Gregg.

64^th Battalion (The Princess Louise Fusiliers), CEF
Trinity Anglian Church, Main Street, Sussex

Authority to raise the 64^th Battalion for service in World War One was given on June 17^th 1915, with its headquarters located in Sussex. After completing its training in Camp Sussex, the Battalion sailed for England on April 1^st 1916, under command of Lieutenant Colonel H. Montgomery Campbell. In June 1916 the unit was disbanded and its members sent as reinforcement to France. In 1931 an impressive bronze memorial plaque was presented to Trinity Anglian Church by the 64^th Battalion Association, bearing the names of the 245 men from the unit killed during World War One. A photograph of A Company of the 64^th can be seen in the Tea House Museum on Maple Street.

Presentation of Colours to the New Brunswick Rangers
Tourist Bureau in the Old Railway Station, Broad Street

On display over the door in the Tourist Bureau is two large photographs of the New Brunswick Rangers on parade in July 1937, receiving Colours from their Colonel-in-Chief, Prime Minister R.B. Bennet. This parade occurred on Broad Street in front of the railway station. It was customary for military units training at Camp Sussex to use Broad Street for parades, because of its width.

Regimental Colours of the 8^th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
The 8^th Hussars Sports Centre, Leonard Drive

On the second floor of the sport centre there are three artifacts relating to the 8^th Hussars. The most interesting is a large framed 8^th Hussar's regimental flag, approximately eight feet by 15 feet. It was made by the ladies of Rothesay in 1885 and presented to Lieutenant Colonel James Domville, on the occasion of the unit's annual training camp. It is gray in colour, with the Union jack in the upper left corner and the figure "8" in laurel leaves surmount with a crown in the lower right. The flag is a replica of the regimental flag of the Hussar's predecessor the New Brunswick Regiment of Cavalry. Next to it is a modern 8^th Hussar regimental flag. Also on display is a craved wooden regimental plaque commemorating the 8^th Hussar's regular service in Germany from 1958 to 1962. This plaque had been on the alter rail of the Canadian Garrison Protestant Church in Deilinghofen, Germany. In 1971, when the Canadian Army in NATO moved from Northern Germany to Lahr in Southern Germany, the plaque was returned to the Regiment.

The Grave of Princess Louise, a World War Two Mascot
Near the Cenotaph by the Community Centre, Hampton

The 8^th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) was mobilized as part of the 5^th Armoured Division. This tank regiment was involved in heavy fighting during the Italian campaign and in September 1944, near the town of Besanigo, the men of the Regiment found an abandon orphan pony. She was promptly named Princess Louise and taken on the strength of the Regiment . She accompanied the Regiment for the remainder of the war, including during the campaign in Holland. Princess Louise arrived in Canada in March 1946 and became a naturalized citizen. When Princess Louise died on 22 August 1973, she was replaced as Regimental mascot by her daughter Princess Louise II. The two Princesses are buried side by side, with the location marked by a small granite stone erected by the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch #28.

Cenotaph
Village of Anagance, east of Petitcodiac

The cenotaph of this small New Brunswick village is located beside the United Church and is inscribed with the names of six of their sons who died in World War One and five who died in World War Two. One of those commemorated is Flight Sergeant Douglas Richard Smith, who served with the RCAF as a wireless operator and perished on 10 September 1942 when his bomber was shot down on his first mission . He is buried in Keil, Germany. Another is Flight Sergeant Alden Ernest Nickerson, age 20, also a RCAF wireless operator, who died on 11 July 1942 on his twenty-ninth bombing raid over Europe.

CG21 Scotch Settlement Pinetree Gao Filler Site
Bull Moose Hill, between Stewarton and Belleisle Creek, Off Highways #695 & #870

The Pinetree Line was a joint Canadian and American Cold War project, designed to counter the perceived Soviet air threat. Canadian Forces Station St Margarets in Northumberland County was the only Pinetree radar site built in New Brunswick. In October 1959 it was determined that there was a need for some 45 unmanned filler sites to improve the radar coverage of the system. Three were to be constructed in New Brunswick as satellites to St Margarets, The filler sites were to be equipped with FPS 18 radars, two buildings, and a tower. Althoughconstruction was 95% complete at the Bull Moose Hill site, the project was cancelled before any of the filler sites became operational. Today, the road, security fence and concrete base still exist.