A Christmas Memory from Ghent, Belgium - Peter Huston

This Christmas season as we celebrate with family and friends, it’s important to remember that we have enjoyed 210 years of negotiated peace with Great Britain and Canada. Here in Put-in-Bay we will observe the Battle of Lake Erie “BicenTENnial” (210 years), September 10th 2023.

It was on the eve of Christmas in 1814 when representatives from the US and Great Britain officially signed the treaty to end the war in Ghent, Belgium. It was the decisive victory of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry over the powerful British Navy during the Battle of Lake Erie that paved the way.

Donald R. Hickey, professor of history at Wayne State College in Nebraska and author of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, said: “If the American Revolution established the nation, the War of 1812 confirmed the nationhood.” The Treaty of Ghent officially ended the War of 1812 and laid the groundwork for a non-militarized border between the United States and Canada.

Today Put-in-Bay and the Bass Islands are just a few miles by boat from the border. Perhaps we take it for granted that the two hard fought wars between the United States and Great Britain left us as firmly entwined allies, not enemies. That alliance has been important throughout the years, not just during wartime, but during peace as well. We should be thankful that Great Britain remains our closest ally and our borders are open.

As a very young child, I lived just outside Buffalo, New York. My uncle and aunt lived in a small community in Ontario, Canada. It was near the north shore of Lake Erie and known as Point Abino. During the summers we would often head to their lakeside house. It was great to escape the heat of summer and enjoy the sandy shores of Crystal Beach at the eastern end of Lake Erie. It seemed to me that going to Canada was effortless back then; no passports, no border guards, no customs officers.

It was way beyond my understanding at the time to realize that the Treaty of Ghent had solidified that open border that we (post pandemic) enjoy today. In fact, here in Put-in-Bay, just a scant few miles from Canada, we welcome our northern friends every summer that visit us from Pelee Island, Port Stanley, Leamington, Amherstburg and beyond.

So this Christmas in Put-in-Bay, we are going to celebrate our good fortune. The feeling of security we enjoy that comes with an open border and enduring peace. Now, when I think back to the events that unfolded during the War of 1812, it makes me especially thankful for the bold and brave actions and the many sacrifices of our American Navy and Commodore Perry on that fateful day in September of 1813. Their sacrifice is embodied in our enduring peace with Great Britain and Canada today.