If you've ever been on a field trip in Minnesota, you've most likely visited Historic Fort Snelling, where students young and old get to see how early settlers lived.
Hearth cooking, blacksmithing, children's games, and a school lesson are all part of the learning experience at the fort which actually has a history that goes back 10,000 years, long before white settlers made the site at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers the site of a military outpost.
After more than two years of rehabilitation and improvements, the Minnesota Historical Society is finally welcoming back visitors to the historic facility.
Nancy Cass is site manager at Fort Snelling where she's worked for more than 23 years. Cass took some time to show WCCO’s Susie Jones around the new visitor center during this week's "One Tank Trip".
“It's so exciting and I think I have that perspective, I've been here a long time, and to see this change is nothing short of amazing,” Cass told WCCO.
This is the first time the fort has been fully open since the pandemic and the crowds have returned according to Cass who gave a tour of the grounds before stopping at the fort.
“There's so much history here and we're really trying to bring that out so that people think of Historic Fort Snelling not just one little slice of time, but we have 10,000 years of history to talk about here,” Cass say. “And that's not a small thing to do.”
The land is at the intersection of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers and is one of the most powerfully historic places in the Twin Cities to the Mdewakanton Sioux Community who referred to the area as Bdote.
Bdote means “where two waters come together.” While bdote can refer to any place where waters converge, many Dakota people consider this location as a sacred place of creation, identifying themselves as the Wicahpi Oyate (Star Nation) who originated in the sky and came into being on this land.
The area has a deep historic and spiritual meaning to early Americans as well. The site was a key location for the early fur trade in Minnesota in the early 1800s before becoming the center of trade and later military authority. The fort itself was constructed beginning in 1820, almost four decades prior to Minnesota's statehood.
The guides at Fort Snelling try to cover all of the history of the site, not just the arrival of European and American settlers.
“It can be a very painful story to reflect upon and difficult to talk about,” explains Cass. “It's difficult for African Americans as well, to think about enslaved people who were here.”
Tom Edwards, a staff member at the fort, says they want to share all of the stories, good and bad, about the fort’s history.
“We have about 20 staff members on site to talk about everything that happened here,” Edwards explains. “The last 10,000 years, the good, the bad and the ugly, and everything in between.”
The site at Fort Snelling also includes a state park where you can hike through the river confluence below the bluffs where the fort is located. There are also bike trails, fishing and swimming and a boat access for the rivers.
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