Vancouver, WA

Before we go to the fort itself, let’s stop in to the Visitor’s Center, up the hill from the fort on the corner of E Reserve and Evergreen Blvd. The visitor’s center is free, and there’s lots of information here about the history and archeology of the fort. There’s a gift shop, too, where we can buy replicas of items used at the fort, and items made by hand in the smithy or carpenter’s shop.
Both the fort and the Visitor’s Center are open from 9:00 to 5:00 most every day, although they are closed for some holidays. There’s info at their website on tours, events, and archeology.
On to the fort itself. The entry fee is just $3, which we pay in the Contact Center, on the right just inside the fort’s front gate.
The Chief Factor’s house is the first place to see, painted white, unlike most of the buildings in the fort, with a porch across its south-facing front, which is covered with grapevines; probably kept it much cooler in the summer, don’t you think? Nineteenth Century air-conditioning.
Inside, we can see the Chief Factor’s office, with stuffed birds as décor. Taxidermy was popular in the nineteenth century, part of the Victorian-era fascination with natural science.
Let’s hit the carpenter’s shop next. Look at all those hand tools and not a single power tool. There is a lathe, but it’s run by foot power. I don’t think I’d be up to that. How about you; been cycling lately?
Everything that couldn’t be made here in the fort took two years to get here from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s London headquarters. It took the better part of a year for the request to get there and another for the item to get here from England. That’s why places like the carpenter’s shop were so important at the fort. Most everything wooden at the fort was made in this shop, with these tools.
Across the fort is the fur warehouse. The main business of Fort Vancouver was collecting furs, mainly beaver pelts, and shipping them off to England. The fur warehouse is where much of this activity took place. This press was used to squish as many furs as possible into a bale, weighing up to ninety pounds, that was shipped back to England.
Next stop is the dispensary, where the doctor lived and treated patients. Do you see the drawers of medicines in that cabinet? Many of those medicines would have been dried herbs, grown in the fort’s garden.
Now for the blacksmith’s shop. You’d think the most important job, with no restaurants around, would have been the cook. Nope, it was the blacksmith. In the ships sailing from England, already shaped iron would take up much more space than iron ore. The blacksmith, who transformed that ore into most everything metal used at the fort, received good pay and respect.
The paths in the fort are made of compressed sand, to provide a smooth surface for strollers and wheelchairs while being less “21st century” than concrete or blacktop. It’s a bit of a walk, but worth every step. Aren’t you glad we brought a camera? The water bottle came in handy, too. There’s very little light inside the buildings, so on a bright day, wearing sunglasses outdoors has made it easier for our eyes to adjust when we go into a building, so we don’t miss anything.
To get to the fort itself, take I-5 to Mill Plain and head east to Fort Vancouver Way. Turn right to head south down the hill to 5th St. Turn left, and parking is on your right. Or got to GoogleMaps.
Or, you can start out at the Visitor’s Center.