Killian is out of school this week for spring break, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and head up to Vancouver, Washington to tour Fort Vancouver. The fort has a very interesting history:
At the entrance to the fort:
Our first stop once inside the walls was the house of Dr. John McLoughlin, who was the Chief Factor (the head honcho) of the fort. The house was huge, at least considering that at the time it was built most houses were just a few rooms:
There were a few rooms that you could look into, but the kids were more interested in the cannons out front:
Our next stop was the kitchen, a dark little building off the back of the main house. The kitchens sole purpose was to cook food for the people who lived in that house - the other 300+ people that lived in and around the fort were on their own. One of the neat things about the fort is that they have people there dressed in period clothes, doing what they would have done 150 years ago. The woman in the kitchen was peeling apples to make something for breakfast, and she had a huge fire going in the oven. On our way out of the kitchen building, I stopped to drool over the pantry:
I loved the collections of jars, and tins, and there were barrels lining the opposite wall. I wish I had a pantry that big!!
Nature called, and the kids made a pit stop at the old outhouses. Each little stall had two holes cut out - did people potty together in the old days??
The double capacity may have been a great idea, but apparently the placement was not. When we looked at the well there was a sign saying that the waste from the toilets would often seep through the groundwater and into the well, making people sick. The kids were quite grossed out at the thought, but the huge arm that lowered the bucket into the well was pretty cool!
There was a school group there, so we headed to the other side of the fort to avoid the crowds. As we were walking across the grounds, I took this picture:
I thought it was neat that you could see the old walls of the fort and the tower, and in the background were the modern 15 story glass and steel buildings. Things have changed so much in such a short period of time.
Our next stop was the fur traders house, were they had piles and piles of furs hanging on the walls and on tables to touch. We touched beaver, wolf, muskrat, otter and weasel pelts. The man there explained how they cured the beaver pelts to make into hats with mercury, the fumes of which would rise up and be inhaled by the person doing the work. It made them crazy, and he said that's where the term "Mad Hatter" came from!
Those big bales behind him are how they transported the furs, as well as in barrels with tobacco leaves because the tobacco would kill fleas.
Next up was the carpenters shop:
The kids built a little house the way they used to make them - without nails, just with grooves and tongues in the wood:
We checked out an officers meeting house, which had a little bedroom in it. I loved this little station with soap, combs and toothbrushes and the pitcher and washbasin were so beautiful!
We looked at the tiny little hospital room next:
And another room in the hospital full of bottles, books and tinctures!
Our last stop was the blacksmiths shop, and this is the one place that really held Rowans attention - she didn't want to leave! The blacksmith used these huge ceiling bellows to get air into the fire and when the coals got hot enough he stuck a metal rod into the middle of them. When it was glowing hot he would bring it out and bang on it, and then stick it back into the pile of coal when it cooled.
Its pretty amazing to me to think about how self contained and self sufficient the fort was. Almost everything that they needed they made or grown on the grounds. I think the kitchen woman said that the only things they imported as far as food were spices, coffee and some citrus (although they had a greenhouse and grew lemons at the fort)! The only other thing I heard them saying they had to import were nails for the floors. Its hard to imagine that sort of place nowadays!
As we left the fort, we took some time to walk through the garden that's in front. I thought my garden was big - I cant imagine working a plot this size!
We had planned to leave the fort and meet our friend Stephanie and two of her daughters at the Zoo, but while driving to Vancouver I had passed the zoo exits on the freeway - they were both backed up for miles! The zoo has a pretty small parking lot, and neither of us liked the idea of driving around forever trying to find a parking spot, and then fighting the crowds inside the zoo. We decided to meet at my house and take the kids to Rood Bridge park instead. It was the perfect day for it, sunny and warm, and the kids had a great time. We hit the playground first, and then walked through the park until we found a grassy spot to play by the water:
It almost felt like summer! We took our shoes and socks off, and the kids had a ball wading through the water and floating leaves and sticks down it. Killian found a bunch of twigs and dried grass and I made him a little raft to float down the stream. When they got tired of that, the kids raced up the big hill to turn right around and roll down it:
Then it was back to the water, where the kids found a little frog! They all took turns holding it and then they released it back into the water and ran along side the stream as the frog made his get away!
We had a wonderful day, I love taking the kids out to explore new things, that's something I want to do a lot of this summer. Spending time with Stephanie was a bonus too, we don't get the chance to get together often enough, and it was so fun to spend the afternoon with her and her sweet girls. Hopefully we can do more of that this summer too!
The Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver was a surprising place: it was a headquarters and primary supply depot for fur trading operations, but employed more people at agriculture than any other activity. It was a large corporate monopoly that kept order and stability by employing many different ethnic groups. It was a British establishment, but the primary languages were Canadian French and Chinook Jargon. It represented British territorial interests, yet made American settlement in the Pacific Northwest possible. Even those who wished it gone praised the hospitality and assistance they found there.
At the entrance to the fort:
Our first stop once inside the walls was the house of Dr. John McLoughlin, who was the Chief Factor (the head honcho) of the fort. The house was huge, at least considering that at the time it was built most houses were just a few rooms:
There were a few rooms that you could look into, but the kids were more interested in the cannons out front:
Our next stop was the kitchen, a dark little building off the back of the main house. The kitchens sole purpose was to cook food for the people who lived in that house - the other 300+ people that lived in and around the fort were on their own. One of the neat things about the fort is that they have people there dressed in period clothes, doing what they would have done 150 years ago. The woman in the kitchen was peeling apples to make something for breakfast, and she had a huge fire going in the oven. On our way out of the kitchen building, I stopped to drool over the pantry:
I loved the collections of jars, and tins, and there were barrels lining the opposite wall. I wish I had a pantry that big!!
Nature called, and the kids made a pit stop at the old outhouses. Each little stall had two holes cut out - did people potty together in the old days??
The double capacity may have been a great idea, but apparently the placement was not. When we looked at the well there was a sign saying that the waste from the toilets would often seep through the groundwater and into the well, making people sick. The kids were quite grossed out at the thought, but the huge arm that lowered the bucket into the well was pretty cool!
There was a school group there, so we headed to the other side of the fort to avoid the crowds. As we were walking across the grounds, I took this picture:
I thought it was neat that you could see the old walls of the fort and the tower, and in the background were the modern 15 story glass and steel buildings. Things have changed so much in such a short period of time.
Our next stop was the fur traders house, were they had piles and piles of furs hanging on the walls and on tables to touch. We touched beaver, wolf, muskrat, otter and weasel pelts. The man there explained how they cured the beaver pelts to make into hats with mercury, the fumes of which would rise up and be inhaled by the person doing the work. It made them crazy, and he said that's where the term "Mad Hatter" came from!
Those big bales behind him are how they transported the furs, as well as in barrels with tobacco leaves because the tobacco would kill fleas.
Next up was the carpenters shop:
The kids built a little house the way they used to make them - without nails, just with grooves and tongues in the wood:
We checked out an officers meeting house, which had a little bedroom in it. I loved this little station with soap, combs and toothbrushes and the pitcher and washbasin were so beautiful!
We looked at the tiny little hospital room next:
And another room in the hospital full of bottles, books and tinctures!
Our last stop was the blacksmiths shop, and this is the one place that really held Rowans attention - she didn't want to leave! The blacksmith used these huge ceiling bellows to get air into the fire and when the coals got hot enough he stuck a metal rod into the middle of them. When it was glowing hot he would bring it out and bang on it, and then stick it back into the pile of coal when it cooled.
Its pretty amazing to me to think about how self contained and self sufficient the fort was. Almost everything that they needed they made or grown on the grounds. I think the kitchen woman said that the only things they imported as far as food were spices, coffee and some citrus (although they had a greenhouse and grew lemons at the fort)! The only other thing I heard them saying they had to import were nails for the floors. Its hard to imagine that sort of place nowadays!
As we left the fort, we took some time to walk through the garden that's in front. I thought my garden was big - I cant imagine working a plot this size!
We had planned to leave the fort and meet our friend Stephanie and two of her daughters at the Zoo, but while driving to Vancouver I had passed the zoo exits on the freeway - they were both backed up for miles! The zoo has a pretty small parking lot, and neither of us liked the idea of driving around forever trying to find a parking spot, and then fighting the crowds inside the zoo. We decided to meet at my house and take the kids to Rood Bridge park instead. It was the perfect day for it, sunny and warm, and the kids had a great time. We hit the playground first, and then walked through the park until we found a grassy spot to play by the water:
It almost felt like summer! We took our shoes and socks off, and the kids had a ball wading through the water and floating leaves and sticks down it. Killian found a bunch of twigs and dried grass and I made him a little raft to float down the stream. When they got tired of that, the kids raced up the big hill to turn right around and roll down it:
Then it was back to the water, where the kids found a little frog! They all took turns holding it and then they released it back into the water and ran along side the stream as the frog made his get away!
We had a wonderful day, I love taking the kids out to explore new things, that's something I want to do a lot of this summer. Spending time with Stephanie was a bonus too, we don't get the chance to get together often enough, and it was so fun to spend the afternoon with her and her sweet girls. Hopefully we can do more of that this summer too!