Colonel Joel Stone, who served with Loyalist militia during the American Revolutionary War, established a settlement on this site in 1789. Land was granted to Col. Stone for use as a mill site.
During the War of 1812, American forces raided the government depot in the town to disrupt the flow of British supplies between Kingston and Montreal. The stores seized consisted of half an ox, a few straw ticks, and a few blankets. The raiders seized the supplies they found and burned the depot.
Mrs. Stone reportedly protected her jewels from the invaders by hiding them in the flour at the mill.
Within a month of the raid construction of the Gananoque Blockhouse was begun, with completion in 1813. It had an octagonal log parapet containing five guns. The blockhouse was abandoned after the War of 1812 and given to a private landowner
