Come World Travel is reader-supported and perhaps receive commissions for purchases made from this article’s links.
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is located in Vancouver, Washington, surrounded by mountain heights and a thriving industrial setting.
The McLoughlin House, which is situated across the border in Oregon City, Oregon, is among the site’s many unusual locations, including a restoration of Fort Vancouver built by the Hudson Bay Company, the Vancouver Barracks of the U.S. Army, Pearson Air Museum, and others.
The Fort Vancouver Sites, Stories, and Artifacts
Greetings from Fort Vancouver. Submitted by Debbie Stone
Each location provides a view into the park’s vibrant ethnic past, including the thrill of flight as well as the frontier hair trading post and its impressive martial legacy.
As you explore structures brimming with artifacts and converse with experienced docents, you’ll hear tales of negotiation, conflict, and community.
The Establishment of Fort Vancouver
Fort Vancouver served as the administrative hub and primary supply depot for the American Hudson’s Bay Company, which built a vast hair trading network throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The 1840s-era Fort and Village, which has been rebuilt, now brings to life the existence of Native Americans, settlers, and leather trappers who lived in the region.
The employees and their families who provided support for the hair trading post’s activities, as well as its fields, dairies, and mills, lived in The Village. Over 500 residents of the Village’s era came from a variety of origins, including Native Hawaiians, French-Canadiens, English, Scotspeople, and people of more than thirty various Indian tribes.
Two newly built homes give you a feel of the community’s active and intricate life.
View accommodations in Vancouver, Washington
You’ll pass a sizable yard as you walk the course to the castle. In the past, the fort’s yard was lush with plants and create and covered five to eight hectares.
The garden is said to be a place of botanical beauty in the spring and summer, bursting with plants that also produce produce and blooms that burst in color, even though I visited in late fall when it was latent. Some are examples of different eras.
House of the Chief Factor
The Big House was where the best copper resided. Submitted by Debbie Stone
The Chief Factor’s House, also known as the” Big House,” is the most noticeable structure inside the fort. The post’s two best soldiers, along with their families, lived there and hosted visitors. And the highest-ranking men from the fort gathered here to talk about reports, strategies, and create plans and agreements.
With its top, staircase and veranda, garden, and two cannons positioned forward and center, the house was undoubtedly designed to please.
The castle also has a number of other intriguing structures, some of which may include docents living there, dressed in time attire, and carrying out 1800s-style work.
Speak with the welders.
The Most Significant Blacksmith Shop. Debbie Stone’s pictures
For instance, the” smith” would have combined the duties of a welding shop, service station, and hardware store in the blacksmith shop. Every group needed a good smith, so he was important in the fort.
At any given time, there were frequently at least four people working. To create almost every item for a home or farm that could n’t be made of wood, they worked incredibly hard.
Welders needed years of experience and professional expertise. They had to first start a fireplace in the craft using coal or petroleum. To accomplish this, they pumped gas into a bellows that was attached to the craft, which then stoked the flames into an raging fire.
Finally they set fire to iron or steel plates that had been shipped in from Britain. They may bend and shape the bars with a hammer and hammer when the iron became red-hot.
Two males were hard at work creating generally accurate metal tools and equipment during my visit. We were informed that smiths had difficult jobs and that their skills were always in need. They had to put in hours of sweltering, filthy job as a drawback.
Check out What’s Cooking at the Kitchen of Fort Vancouver.
In the kitchen of Fort Vancouver, charity docents are preparing meals. Submitted by Debbie Stone
It was simple to think that this was after a busy area with steaming kettles, foods baking over the hearth, women chopping vegetables, and people scurrying about in the fort’s rebuilt kitchen.
We observed some cents drying beans, baking salmon in paper, and using 1800s recipes to make food and other items. In those days, preservation methods included drying, tobacco, drying, and canning. Additionally, since the brick stove took two hours to heat, you should begin baking anything first.
Although we discovered that in those days, you would even smell like pipe tobacco and dirty bodies in addition to the sweet cooking aromas, it still smelled good inside.
For the residents of the Big House and Bachelors Hall, the house was a swarm of various activities, ranging from cleaning and candle-making to shoe-polishing and cooking the grooming water. For those who worked around, the amount of work was remarkable.
A hub of activity was the Indian Trade Shop.
In the Indian Trade Shop, deal took place in a variety of ways.
A man over at the Indian Trade Shop told us that this store sold furs and other items, such as beads and buttons, tools, nicotine, fireplace starter kits, animal traps, guns and ammunition, fabric, and blankets made by the Hudson’s Bay Company that were exchanged for the fur.
African Americans were frequently employed at the store” with proper attention to how visiting Indian traders would perceive these individuals- and their ethnic affiliations.”
Beaver hides were in high demand because they were used to make a lot of fashionable apparel. Depending on the quality of the coat, a person could get up to four “markers.” Next, products were bought at the store using the markers.
Explore the Carpenter Shop That Is Essential.
factory for carpenters. Submitted by Debbie Stone
A Carpenter Shop, which usually had three to five builders, apprentices, and assistants working in it, was required for the fort’s development and maintenance requirements as well as those of nearby mills and farms. They were given tasks like joining, finishing work, building frame for the buildings, and various tasks.
Along with the aforementioned tasks, the people also built and repaired tires, carts, and wagons as well as crafted sturdy components for farm machinery.
Two men demonstrated to us how a mortise ( slot or hole ) and tenon ( pin ) were used in place of nails to construct furniture and houses during our visit to the Carpenter Shop.
One of the most popular legs is the mortise and tenon, a traditional wood method that dates back thousands of years. Simply put, it enables the connection of two pieces of wood. However, it necessitates extreme accuracy in measuring and cutting.
I liked how the wooden looked without nails, and hearing that it was sturdy and long-lasting was an obvious plus.
Walk Around the Barracks and Along Officer’s Column
The U.S. Army arrived in 1849 and built the Vancouver Barracks next to Fort Vancouver. One of the nation’s most illustrious defense outposts, this was the first U.S. Army article in the Pacific Northwest. Eleven years later, the Army took control of the camp after the Hudson’s Bay Company left. The castle was destroyed by fire in 1866, but it carried on in various types until the National Park Service entered the picture.
Wayside displays all over the place provide information about the history of this martial outpost, despite the fact that many of the structures at the Vancouver Barracks are off-limits to visitors.
Officials Row, a tree-lined pier with nearly two hundred preserved Victorian houses on the National Historic Register, is another option for strolling. U.S. Army officers stationed at the camp previously resided in these residences.
Just three structures—the Grant House, George C. Marshall, and Op. O. Howard House—are accessible to the general public.
inviting everyone who enjoys aerospace to the Pearson Air Museum
The Pearson Air Museum will be fun for aerospace enthusiasts. Debbie Stone’s image
Pearson Field and the Pearson Air Museum are outside. The latter, known as the birth of West Coast aircraft, is one of the country’s oldest operating airfields. It bears the name Lt. Alexander Pearson, a legendary figure in the field who won the second cross-country air race and completed the Grand Canyon flying survey.
The area currently serves as a bustling provincial aircraft and provides flight school, plane rentals, maintenance, and restoration services.
If aircraft is your thing, the exhibition is worth a visit. Through plane and expresses, it honors Pearson Field’s extensive aviation history.
To Get a Tour of the McLoughlin House, Cross the Border
pharmacy located in Fort Vancouver. Debbie Stone’s pictures
Although I did n’t have the chance to visit the McLoughlin House in Oregon City this time, I’ll definitely take it a look if the opportunity arises when I come back to the area. The restored house tells the story of John McLoughlin, also referred to as the” Father of Oregon,” and his life and accomplishments.
McLoughlin was a skilled English physician who once oversaw the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was involved in the British leather business. He held the position of Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver for the longest.
View More Activities in Vancouver, Washington
He and his family moved into this house in 1846 after being forced into retirement. A few years later, McLoughlin obtained British citizenship and held the position of president of Oregon City. He was known for lending money to migrants to help them start businesses and promoting the financial success of the Oregon Territory.
Exploring the Ancient Oregon Trail and its Tradition
Additionally, he gave territory to churches and schools. On the Oregon National Historic Trail is the residence.
Read More
World Travel Magazine is a modern magazine for travellers called McMinnville, Oregon: Wines and Small-town Charm48 Days in Vancouver, British ColumbiaVancouver GetawayFamily Fun In Vancouver: 7 Best Things to Do with KidsAbout Latest Posts A committed group of travel editors who are familiar with the areas they cover produce our newspaper material. We discuss journey to more than 90 nations. Getting your Literary, Art, and History Dose in One with a Tour of the renowned Schwarzman Building at the New York Public Library on January 15, 2024. Most recent articles by Go World Travel Magazine ( see all ) Pacific Northwest History Comes Alive at Fort Vancouver- January 16; Discover the Hidden Gem of Elgin, South Africa.
