One of the prettiest river villages on the Niagara doubles as an unfenced battlefield. Youngstown's Main Street rolls past porches and sailboat masts with Niagara-on-the-Lake in plain view across the water — and beneath its lawns lies La Belle Famille, the July seventeen fifty-nine ambush where a French relief column was shattered a mile short of besieged Fort Niagara. The fort surrendered the next day, and France's grip on the Great Lakes went with it. Today only roadside markers hint at what happened here, which is exactly the appeal: history hiding in a postcard village. The tour narrates the battle as the road passes over it, then continues straight up Main Street to the gates of Fort Niagara State Park.
The Battle of La Belle Famille is under the tidy lawns you're passing right now. On July twenty-fourth, seventeen fifty-nine, that French relief column came up this road and walked into an ambush — British regulars waiting behind a breastwork, Haudenosaunee warriors closing in beside them, about a mile short of the fort's gate. The column broke and ran. The next day Fort Niagara surrendered, and France's hold on the Great Lakes broke with it — the same summer Quebec fell. Today it's sailboats, porch flags, and a Main Street that looks straight across the water into Canada. Keep going straight up Main Street — it runs right through the village and into Fort Niagara State Park, the last stop of the day.
