Fort Vancouver

Today we went to Fort Vancouver on a field trip for my Westward Expansion class. I hadn't been there since I was about 8, so it was like being there for the first time. The weather was very chilly and wet, but we had a good time. It's always good to be with friends.

Fort Vancouver was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company was was never a military post but a trading post. It was like the mega mall for all of the surrounding area and the end of the Oregon Trail for many years. None of the current buildings are original, because the fort burned in 1866.

It was a great lesson in local history!

inside the fort walls

the view from the tower

the fur storage room (it was full of bales of over 200 pounds each!)

inside the trade store

the blacksmith shop

carpenter's shop

inside the jail house (Will said this was his favorite part)

the infirmary

These are the rooms in the Chief Factor's House. It housed the managers' families at the fort, Dr John McLoughlin and his wife and Sir James Douglas and his family.

the gentlemen's mess, where the men ate

the McLoughlins' bedroom

a pictoral history of religion

the ladies' mess (the seperate room where the women ate)

the Douglas children's room (I love the fold up beds!)

the Douglas' bedroom

this sampler hung outside the bedroom (notice what the verse at the bottom says)
Cecillia was the youngest of the Douglas' 4 surviving children

a beautiful vanity in one of the bedrooms

the boys were fascinated by the well at the fort

the huge ovens in the fort's bakehouse