The Saint John River , running from northern Maine to the Bay of Fundy, was for a long time the fastest way to reach Fredericton , whose early streets, bounded by Brunswick Street to the south and York Street to the west, were laid out close to a curve of the south bank. Here the provincial administration set up shop and the garrison, stationed to counter the threat of American attack, paraded on the Officers' Square , at the foot of Regent Street. Mostly grassed over, the square still has space for the Changing of the Guard, a re-enactment of British drill that takes place during the summer (July & Aug Tues-Sat 11am & 7pm). If you miss it, the sentry changes every hour on the hour, a brief march between the square and City Hall just along the street.

The square forms the eastern perimeter of the Military Compound , which once stretched over to York Street between Queen Street and the river. It was a large garrison for such a small place and, once Canada-US relations were on a secure footing, the attitude of the local citizenry towards the antics of the military hardened. They could put up with the grog shops and brothels discreetly located on the other side of the river, but they were infuriated by a huge brawl between soldiers and sailors that swept right across town - and when the British regulars finally departed in 1869 many were relieved. One reminder of the British presence is the elegant three-storey Officers' Quarters , on the square's west side, whose symmetrical columns and stone arches follow a design much used by the Royal Engineers of the nineteenth century. Inside, the York-Sunbury Historical Museum (May & early June Tues-Sat noon-5pm; mid-June to Aug daily 10am-5pm; Sept to mid-Dec Tues-Sat noon-5pm; $2) possesses an intriguing assortment of local bygones, which fills every nook and cranny of this warren-like building. The ground floor kicks off with displays on Fredericton under the British and up above - on the second floor - are military uniforms, armaments and a reconstruction of a World War I trench. Moving on, the third floor holds a couple of Native Canadian rooms, with a ragbag of archeological finds, plus the stuffed remains of the twenty-kilo "Coleman Frog", a giant-sized amphibian of dubious origins. It's not known whether the creature is real or not, but the local innkeeper, who produced it in the 1880s, claimed to have fed it on beer and buttermilk.

A few metres west along Queen, at the foot of Carleton Street, is the Guard House (June-Aug daily 10am-6pm; free), where guides in period British uniforms show you round a restored orderly room, a guardroom and detention cells that create a fearsome picture of military life in the middle of the nineteenth century. The guardroom is not, actually, too different from the airless cells where villains were locked up waiting to be flogged, branded or transported. Directly opposite, with its back to Queen Street, is the Soldiers' Barracks (same times) a sturdy three-storey block that at one time accommodated more than two hundred squaddies. Most of the building has been turned into offices and its street-level arcades house arts and craft stalls, but one room has been restored to its appearance in the early 1800s.

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