Historic Fort Snelling — Attraction in Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory

I remember going to Fort Snelling when I was in elementary school many years ago, but I decided I wanted to bring my own child here to learn history since field trips are not happening in schools yet. We started off watching the laundry demonstration. The volunteer who was doing the presentation involved the kids in the group, which I loved, but I felt it was rushed. The program brochure looks like it was supposed to be longer than 5 minutes, which was actually how long the presentation lasted. From that point, we went on our own tour and walked through the buildings that were open. We watched the 10 minute World War 1 presentation as well, and the volunteer did a great job and fired 5 shots out of a rifle that they would of used back then, he also taught about gun safety, which I loved! My daughter enjoyed the school house and we sat in on a lesson. The volunteer for the school was a younger woman, she was very shy, but did a wonderful job. We then toured the hospital building, which I was disappointed in, I understand they are trying to teach history, but they made that building very modern inside in between the actual hospital & officers barracks, it has lost that "old time" feel. My Childs favorite part was watching the blacksmith, he was great! He answered questions, made conversation with the guest, and also passed items around that he was making! At the end of the day, I guess I was expecting what I saw when I was younger, I remember the reenactments in the middle field, the canon being shot off, and more buildings being open. I was told by Sue, a volunteer to come back during a holiday and I would be able to see that, which I might do and hopefully the experience will be what I remember. I felt every program was cut short, some buildings and the deck by the house was closed off, the volunteers in the actual fort were great, but we did look around the building that just got remodeled inside and not one volunteer spoke to us, even when my child was standing right in...

An excellent field trip to supplement our Minnesota History educational experience.

The fort has several buildings that you can tour and informational plaques to describe various elements. There are also people attired in historical garb to add to the experience, in addition to a handful of stations where they explain the lifestyles of people who originally dwelled there.

If I had not previously been reading literature pertaining to Minnesota History, I feel like the people who explained life at the fort did an excellent job painting the picture. That being said, it is enriching to know more before you go! Here are a couple books I would reccomend and my ratings of them:

Jane Gibbs, "Little Bird That Was Caught". Note: Excellent family read-aloud; about a young girl who was taken (kidnapped!) to MN in the 1830s and some of the experiences she had living amongst the Dakota. Her paths crossed Samuel and Gideon Gibbs, here. She also stopped at Fort Snelling! Old Rail Fence Corners. Note: A compilation of short stories from people who pioneered to Minnesota in the 1800s; it includes some stories of relatives of Jane Gibbbs/Debow and the Pond brothers. Warning: some stories do include recollections of the 1962 Uprising, so parents discretion advised for read-aloud. Over the Earth I Come: The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862. Note: contains graphic language of violence. Heavy read, young adult-level read. Sobering. The Dakota or Sioux in Minneosota As They Were in 1862 by Samuel Pond. Note: I am still currently reading, so I don't actually know if I reccomend it. It reads as a type of "thinking out loud" style.

A final note: there are also books available in the gift shop for those eager to learn more, as well as a museum that is laid out as a type of timeline of events relating to Fort Snelling. Unfortunately, my toddler was to squirrely to be able to let me read all the plaques, but it...

We visited the national cemetery on Memorial Day, then visited the Historic Fort Snelling. We spent about 3 hours there and everything was open with various demonstrations from a look at soldier equipment over time since the Revolutionary War to slightly outdated modern equipment, the cannon and infantry firing demonstration, a little black smithing, and others. Most of the Fort was open that day so you got a good example of what living in an early 19th century fort was like.

The fort and newly renovated welcome center were open 10a-5p and parking was pretty tight but it was also a national holiday. I have three kiddos, 3, 6, and 8, they all seemed to enjoy the demonstrations and walking around the fort and cemetery for the time we were there. We did do a lot of walking, close to 4 miles all said and done, and water wasn't extremely readily available so by the end they were pretty worn out.

There is also a park with lots of walking trails around the fort and below as well as the cemetery. It has good educational value and it's good for helping kids visualize the past. I would recommend it to any parent!

As a side note, I got in for free as I was former military, so I'm not sure what...