Although budget cuts have reduced the hours that the Grand Portage National Monument will be open, there will still be many opportunities to learn about life in Grand Portage 200 years ago. Visitors will still have the chance to talk to historical interpreters like this young voyageur.
Grand Portage National Monument staff will temporarily open the historic Lake Superior fur trade depot at Grand Portage for Memorial Day weekend, Saturday, May 25-27. The historic depot will be closed again from May 28-31. During that time the heritage center will remain open from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily.
Chief of Interpretation Pam Neil said the National Monument will open the historic depot for the summer season on June 1, 2013. Neil said this amended schedule marks a change from past years.
“We have received a reduction of approximately $67,000 to our operating budget as a result of the sequestration of federal budgets. We are making adjustments in our operations, including amending our opening dates, to meet the requirements of sequestration and be able to accommodate visitors travelling over the Memorial Day weekend. As always, we are looking forward to another busy, rewarding, and productive year,” stated Superintendent Tim Cochrane.
Beginning on June 1, 2013, the monument’s heritage center will be open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until mid-October. While at the heritage center, visitors can view the monument’s new interpretive film, Rendezvous With History: A Grand Portage Story and additional video Shorts along with over 2,000 square feet of exhibits that highlight Ojibwe culture and the history of the North West Company.
The historic depot area will be open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through mid-October as well. In the Great Hall, visitors can “window shop” via a new exhibit entitled, From Furs to Fashion. This exhibit is a London streetscape complete with storefronts that welcome “shoppers” interested in the luxurious hats and furs, as well as powder puffs, fancy perfumes, and even fishing lures made for European shoppers from pelts and parts of mammals traded to the North West Company in the 1790s.
The park interpretive staff is busy preparing programs and facilities for the upcoming season. The historic fur trade depot with its Great Hall and kitchen, and the canoe warehouse will be open to the public along with our outdoor exhibits in the Ojibwe village and voyageurs’ encampment. Here visitors step back more than 200 years in time to get a glimpse of life during the fur trade.
A variety of ranger programs are offered including talks, demonstrations, Try It On fur trade era clothing, historic gardening, and birch bark canoe building. Visitors can walk the grounds and see how a fur press works, learn and play traditional games in the Ojibwe Village, get a glimpse of a voyageur’s life at the reconstructed voyageur encampment, and walk in the footsteps of the Ojibwe and NWCo voyageurs on the 8½ mile Grand Portage. Also available for hiking is the Mount Rose Trail.
This is the 14th year in which the Grand Portage Band of Minnesota Chippewa will be providing maintenance services and select projects to the monument under a first-of-itskind partnership between the Band and the National Park Service. Over 110 projects have been completed through this Tribal Self Governance Act agreement. In addition to preparing the site for the 2013 season, the Band’s maintenance crew will improve accessibility to park walking paths. Other projects involve preservation work on the Great Hall, kitchen, and canoe warehouse, rehabilitating the palisade pickets, and constructing a new hiking trail that will increase hiking opportunities on Mt. Rose. This work also includes the construction of a picnic area adjacent the Heritage Center Parking Lot.
“Come visit us this summer! We look forward to seeing you,” said Pam Neil.
Learn more about the Grand Portage National Monument and see its 2013 schedule online at www.nps.gov/grpo
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