Ft. William in Thunder Bay Ontario, and a Waterfall

While in Thunder Bay Ontario, we camped at the Fort William Historic Park. There are only ten sites with water and power, and about twenty non-serviced sites. All of the serviced sites, including ours, were occupied while we were there. 









I had made reservations far in advance. We had 50 amp power and excellent free Wifi for less than $30 US per day. We could see the dry sites from the Alfa, and we only observed a couple of overnighters while we were there, so we assume that it would be easy to camp there if you don't want power, and no events were taking place. (They do have several large re-enactments every summer.)  

This was the view from the front of our coach. The grass was well cut and Craig said he felt like he was camping on the Queen's lawn! 

We took a walk across the grass to see the Kaministiquia River in the evening light. 









This is not the site of the original Fort William. The current Fort is a reconstruction. The original site to the east has long been paved over.


We bought our admission tickets to the Fort in the Visitor Center. From there we had a choice of taking a shuttle or taking a ten minute walk along a wooded path. 

The ostrich ferns were massive

Walking through this area was like eating a bit of melon between courses of a fancy meal. The forest cleared our mind of modern life and helped our imaginations slip into the early nineteenth century.

Before arriving at the Fort, we encountered several tepees. The plains Indians use buffalo hides for the walls of their homes, but the forest people used large sections of birch-bark the were overlapped like shingles.

Because we started our tour at the opening time on a weekday, we felt like we had the site to ourselves. Later in the morning there were a few more people, but at no time was it crowded.

Fort William wast built by the Northwest Company as a headquarters and a trade depot.

The North Voyageurs, French Canadians who worked for the Company, brought furs to the Fort from the North by canoe. Then the Montreal  Voyageurs took the the furs to Montreal. Voyageurs were described as being like today's truckers.

Since it was not a military fort, the enclosing walls were not fortified, and did not have defensive observation walkways. It did have a watch room above the central gate, and a tall watchtower.

Craig climbed the watchtower, 
I did not.

The grounds of the Fort were very large with many structures that housed living quarters, a great dining hall, many work shops, and trading and storage buildings. Most were open and young people dressed in period costumes were there  to talk to us about life at the Fort from the viewpoint of its occupants.  They were delightful because they did not give "canned speeches."

[From Craig] The first two young ladies we encountered were playing the parts of nurses or perhaps physician's assistants of about 1815.  They looked at my shorts and Merikay's pedal pushers, and sympathized that so much of our clothing had rotted away.  Looking at our sneakers, they said we should have more extensive foowear to prevent foot-rot.  Since they were the first period characters we had encountered, we weren't up to saying that people in our country typically dressed like we were.  Later we were more chipper and interactive...

We wandered from building to building looking at things that might have been there when the Fort was in use.

Having skipped breakfast, we were hungry and stopped for an early lunch at the Fort Canteen. I had the yummy Voyageur Stew. Craig had a nice hearty sandwich.

At one point in our day, we were "rounded up" by a guide and told that a trade was about to occur. We all went into watch an Indian woman trade furs for goods. 

The man in the red coat was one of the visitors, and was brought into the enactment to represent her husband and help set the trade values of the furs. He had fun and was quite a bargainer!

In the spirit of a living reenactment, nothing was displayed behind glass, and if a visitor wanted to examine any item he could ask the clerk to bring it down for closer inspection. I enjoyed the way the guides spoke to us as if we were people of the period, not tourists!

Over in the farm area we watched a guide throwing an axe. (He never stuck it in the target!) Craig and I both gave it a try. I was surprised at how heavy and uncontrollable the axe was. Neither of us stuck it either.

A storage building

All in all, I would give Fort William a 10. It was very authentic and the guides kept to their period roles very well. It was, of course, cleaned up to not exhibit things like period sanitation or hygiene. One guide pointed out that the central courtyard would have been muddy and occupied by free roaming livestock instead of grass, and the bedding might not have smelled very sweet! 

After wandering around for much of the day we were glad to catch the shuttle back up to the Visitor Center. It was great to be able to go back to the Alfa right there in the park.

As we explored the Fort we spoke to a man who suggested we go to see the Kakabeka waterfall that is only about a half hour drive away.  

from web

When at the Visitors Center, I had asked for a suggestion of a restaurant that made good Finnish Pancakes. A place called Hoito was reccomended. So, on Saturday, we first went there for breakfast and then went off to see the falls.

Quite a rush of water! There are a series of cascading falls, and we were told the combined height is more than Niagra Falls. It didn't feel that way to me.

On Sunday we went on a sailboat cruise in the Thunder Bay Harbor.  

Check my next post for details.