Journey into the Past at Bent’s Old Fort

Trader Camp at Bent’s Old Fort

The National Park Service is offering an opportunity for individuals to “step back in time” and experience life as it might have been 170 years ago at a trading post on the Santa Fe Trail.

On Saturday, March 21 the fort will host “Frontier Skills Day.” This one-day experience will allow adults to experience fur trade life of the 1840s. Participants will perform “hands on” activities in roles as ox driver/laborer, clerk/trader, domestics, hunters/trappers, carpenters, and blacksmiths.

Activities might include learning Indian Sign Language, frontier cooking, using 19th century hand tools, making adobe, observing how to drive oxen, animal packing, or beaver trapping depending on which role you occupy.

Open slots for this experience are limited as some roles are close to being filled. Currently openings remain in all categories.

Pre-registration is required for this event, which will run from 9 am to 4 pm on that Saturday. Cost to attend is $20 which includes supplies and materials for living history activities and a period meal. Registration forms and more information are available at the park’s website www.nps.gov/beol, click on “Plan Your Visit,” then “Calendar,” then “Make Reservation or Register” or you can stop by or call the park at (719) 383-5026.

This event will focus on the cross-cultural relationships found at the fort in the 1840s as participants experience life as it was in the past. You are invited to join us to take a step back in time at Bent’s Old Fort. We hope that you will find this experience enjoyable and rewarding, and that you consider volunteering with us in one of these roles in the future!