Fort Vancouver National Historic Site — Attraction in Vancouver

Loved it! Go to the visitor's center first. They'll give you a map and some helpful tips. This place was pretty cool. Not a military fort. It's a reconstruction (on the exact site) of the Hudson Bay Company's Fort (kind of like the first superstore) this was the main shipping hub for the HBC. So you'll see The main house (where the Big Boss and his family lived), the kitchen, which is set up exactly as it would have been. It was fascinating to see the place settings, cookware, storage containers, and lighting- candle lanterns! When we were there, two volunteers were cooking a meal over a fire - similar to what would have been served. They were super knowledgeable and happy to answer questions. There is a Bakery where they baked weird biscotti-like cakes for the workers - that wasn't open while we were there but the kitchen volunteers told us about it. The Blacksmith shop was open and the volunteer was making gate latches! It was fun to see him work. The trading post was right next door to the surgeons office. We learned from the volunteer that the surgeon often did double- duty as Dr and store clerk. It was interesting to learn how that trading process worked since there was no money at that time. The fur shop was stocked with bundles for fur waiting to be shipped out. It was interesting to learn that the tower in the corner with the cannons wasn't for protection, it was used to fire canons blasts as a greeting! There is also the carpenter shop, counting house, and jail. Amazing to see how things were constructed back then. If you go in late spring or summer you'll see gardens and apples trees in bloom. If you're up for a walk you can see the settler's village, land bridge and the old orchard! Park Rangers are on site to answer questions. They have the Jr Park Ranger program to engage the kids. The park itself became a military base in the late 1800's. the military took over the logging industry and milled lumber there to produce war planes. Check out air museum and the beautiful old houses on Officer's Row! Pack a lunch and plan on staying a while. Plenty of parking. Most of it was wheelchair accessible. Several restrooms available. I believe no pets are allowed. The visitor's center and air museum were free. I believe the fort would have been $10 to enter but we had a National Park pass so we...

This site is a disgrace to the natives who claimed this land for thousands of years prior to the fort ever being built. The ranger who was working today should be ashamed of himself and the establishment he works with. I had asked him a question about why there are no native artifacts on display. All that is on display is Native American art that is petroglyph related but no where near authentic. (There is no mention whatsoever of the petroglyphs that used to be located here that were placed behind bushes and covered in moss. Petroglyphs that were moved from their original location in the first place and left to not be remembered. They are now on display and clear to see for the public at Columbia state park/horse thief lake.) The ranger explained that the natives died out from disease and this place became a trading site. I replied saying that this location was a native trading site before the fort was built and that they were wiped out on purpose. He smiled and said, “people can have their own perception of history”. My reply was that I can clearly see Fort Vancouver’s controlled perception. The last question I asked the ranger was if he had heard of this quote by George Orwell, 'Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.'

The ranger smiled and started laughing saying that he loves George Orwell. On my way out the door I mentioned to the ranger I would be giving an honest review and informing the public about this deceptive establishment. My native grandmother would not stand for for this if she were to be alive today. Respect the natives and remember those at this location who lost everything by having this land taken from them and a fort...

Great Place to go if you like walking a lot and/or have a green thumb.

The grape vine display on the Chief Factor's house wowed out entire tour group and had to ask for clarification because we all thought it was fake. But the gorgeous garden out front and orchard to the side of the property should've hinted to us that it was real.

I personally didn't get much satisfaction from a tourism perspective here. Only a couple of buildings that are re-creations in their original footprint leaving huge gaps, thus you miss out on that feeling of the community that would've been here before the fire destroyed the whole site with the buildings on-site being erected to establish historic monument status rather than being period-era correct. I was more happy to be walking around then admiring the various buildings and their (lack of) detailed history while listening to aircraft whiz above. There is plenty of additional buildings/stuff to do outside of the fence walls such as; small orchard, Land Bridge, Settlers house, Vancouver Waterfront and various other stuff up north I wasn't able to get to since I parked on the waterfront. I logged over 2 miles of walking just within the fort walls alone, and exceeded over 6 miles logging my other walking outside of...