Fort Nisqually Living History Museum — Attraction in Tacoma

I visited on a Friday about 15 minutes after they opened, with a pre-purchased ticket I’d bought online. Parking was available right up front, offering me a greeting by the Fort’s impressive exterior gate/entrance. Instantaneously, I felt as if I was to be entering a Washingtonian version of Jamestown. I’ll preface now by saying I knew absolutely nothing related to the history of the fort (lol), but had also heard about this place and was excited to experience my first living history museum.

My goals: immerse in history, have a chill day, potentially just observe and slink into background depending on my mood (Mom’s day by herself). I entered thinking I might need to be conversational, in the very least, it being a Living History Museum—I expected to encounter/interact with other life forms outside of visitors like myself.

My gripes: Instead I spoke to three people in the time I was there, the man running the gift shop (although kind and helpful, obviously not part of the immersive experience), and two reenactors. Both the reenactors I spoke to were great but the time was brief and they were limited by their own constraints. The first being a conversation of about one minute upon entering the General Store, (the gentleman manning it said he’d need to head out and lead a children’s tour), the other with a kind women who replaced him and spoke to me for a good 10-15 minutes (she even checked in on me at my last location, but I was ready to leave by that point).

I saw maybe 4-5 potential other people working there, and take into consideration that they are: managing other guests, leading tours, going about their activities, general timing of things—there two spaces I entered that had anyone in them.

In summary, it did not live up to my expectations. I was done in about an hour, and I took my sweet time. I suppose I would maybe recommend coming when it’s more busy, because it might facilitate the Living History museum part of it. The vibe seemed like they schedule and plan for being enjoyable and interactive then, and potentially are really just going through the motions otherwise.

Oh also. I admit not being informed prior to visiting—but finding out that this wasn’t even where the Fort was actually located sucked the last bit of luster off the place I could manage to hold onto.

Highlights: the reenactors I interacted with, the genuinely old/historically recreated buildings/fencing, reasonable ticket pricing, and the view of the Fort from the...

After visiting Fort Vancouver NHS, I became curious about the history of other Hudson's Bay Company forts within the PNW and how they related to each other. The NPS ranger on duty couldn't answer questions about the history of Fort Nisqually which must have been regionally connected. So I decided to research.

Fort Nisqually was originally built near Dupont WA but is now located in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park as a "living history museum." Two original buildings were moved, the Fort Nisqually Granary and the Factor's House. The 1843 granary is Washington State's oldest building. These two surviving buildings are the only original Hudson Bay Company (HBC) buildings left within the United States.

In 1824, the HBC built Fort Vancouver on the north side of the Columbia River. This site was selected because the HBC didn't know where the eventual boundary between the United States and England would be placed after negotiations. Thinking that it could be the Columbia River (not the 49th parallel), a north bank location was selected.

In 1827, the HBC built Fort Langley along the Frasier River (now Canada). An overland route (called the Cowlitz Portage) was established to connect the two forts. But after men along this route were murdered, the HBC decided to establish a safer water-accessible mid-way fort.

The site near Dupont was selected for various reasons. It allowed good ship anchorage, the nearby prairie lands were suitable for crops and animals, and the native population was friendly. Nisqually House was built in 1832. In 1833, construction of Fort Nisqually began. Its main export became beaver pelts.

In 1846, a treaty between the United States and "British North America" established the border at the 49th parallel. Leaving Fort Nisqually on American lands, settlers claiming lands and raiding cattle became problematic during the 1850's. With the decline of the fur trade and continued "harassment," Fort Nisqually closed in 1869.

As part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program during the depression, Fort Nisqually was moved to Point Defiance Park in 1933 (the 100th Anniversary). As much of the original fort was in decay, only two original buildings were relocated. The rest of the 'Fort Vancouver' was rebuilt through the WPA program. The current replica depicts Fort...

The volunteers are fun and engaging to talk to during the day.  The daytime special events are vibrant, educational, and interactive for visitors.  The passion for bringing history to life is apparent. 💛

That said, our experience with the Candlelight Tour was a bit of a let-down, unfortunately, despite perfect evening weather and the appropriate scenery. The nature of it would have been more appropriate for the volunteers to have privately enjoyed with each other instead of being a public, marketed event. Since some scenes had more improvised content/dialog than others and our modern-clothed tour guide sat with hands-in-pockets impatiently waiting at each stop for the tour group in front to move on, the pacing felt uneven.  No friendly information (zero education) was given by our tour guide at any point, and there was also no explanation about why NON-flash photos isn't allowed despite it being allowed during the daylight. Despite the online tickets/website, zoo parking lot check-in staff, and normal (ie. if the tour comes up in conversation during regular operations) daytime staff all excitedly instructing visitors to hold off any questions until the end of the tour, our silent guide seemed surprised and annoyed when there were history/content questions after the candlight tour ended. In fact, she seemed disinterested/bored, unhappy, and stressed out about being a tour guide, throughout the whole experience!

In contrast, both the bus driver and the man on the bus microphone were entertaining and kind, and the bonus of those two bus operators was a highlight of our evening, but we probably won't be buying tickets again in the future for that nighttime event. While it's clear most of the actors relish improvising characters with each other on a stage, from the audience side of things it felt like a bit of a cashgrab to have paid $50 to silently observe strangers talking to each other without any background context/info explanation given, no storyline to unify their improvised scenes, nor any history education.

I definitely still recommend attending one of the fort's many lively DAYTIME special events, however!  Or just stopping by for an educational visit on a quiet, everyday afternoon.  Pay for one of the situations designed for guests to get an actual return for having...