On Saturday, March 14 the fort will host “Frontier Skills Day.” This one-day experience will allow adults to experience fur trade life of the 1840s. Participants will perform “hands on” activities in roles as traders, laborers, domestics, carpenters, blacksmiths, soldiers and hunters.
Activities might include learning Indian Sign Language, adobe work, frontier cooking, using 19th century hand tools, animal packing, or military drills depending on which role you occupy.
Pre-registration is required for this event, which will run from 9 am to 4 pm on that Saturday. Cost to attend is $20 which includes supplies and materials for living history activities and a period meal.
For those seeking a longer, deeper immersive experience, and the chance to live at the fort for a few days, the site will again host a Living History Encampment in June. This 5-day, 3-night event will run June 3 – 7 with two days of classroom training followed by three days of living in the fort.
This event offers the unique opportunity to travel to the past for an extended period of time and get a much deeper understanding of life at an isolated trading post in the 1840s. Roles include trader, trapper-hunter, laborer, blacksmith, carpenter, domestic, or military engineer.
Registration forms and information for this event are also available at the park website or by calling 719-383-5023. Cost for this experience is $300 for adults and $150 for children (must be accompanied by a parent or guardian). This cost includes instruction, clothing and equipment, as well as food and accommodations while living at the fort. Graduate level credit is also available through Adams State University. Both of these events will focus on the history of the fort as it relates to cross-cultural relationships found in the region during the 1830s and 1840s while participants get to experience life as it was in the past.
