fort vancouver lantern tours

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Alerts in effect, popular ranger-led lantern tours again illuminate the past at fort vancouver.

VANCOUVER, WA: The National Park Service is pleased to announce its continuation of the popular ranger-guided Lantern Tours for the fall and winter seasons.

During the months of November, December, January, and February tours will be offered from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. twice each month:

Friday, November 2 and Saturday, November 17, 2007;

Saturday, December 1 and Saturday, December 15, 2007;

Saturday, January 12 and Saturday, January 26, 2008;

Saturday, February 9 Saturday, February 23, 2008.

The Fort is a very different place once the sun goes down, and the lantern tour is a wonderful opportunity to tour the Fort at night. Each adult attending the program will carry their own lantern and tour with a park ranger through the Counting House, Fur Store, Kitchen, Chief Factors House and/or Bake House. Visitors will learn what activities would have occurred during the dark hours at Fort Vancouver. At the end of the tour, visitors will enjoy a hot cup of cider while having a chance to ask questions about the site.

Reservations are required. They will be taken on a first come, first served basis and can be made through the Visitor Center at the Vancouver National Historic Reserve; in person at 1501 E. Evergreen Blvd. or by telephone at 360-816-6230. The cost for these events is $10 for adults and $7 for youth 15 years of age and younger, and is payable by cash or check. Visitors bringing cash are asked to please bring exact change. The programs will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. each evening, so visitors are asked to arrive ten to fifteen minutes early to provide for fee collection and lantern distribution. The programs include walking outdoors between buildings on the fort's historic pathways, so warm, water-resistant apparel and sturdy footwear is highly recommended.

"These Lantern Tours have been very popular with the community," exclaimed Kimm Fox-Middleton, the park’s Special Events Program Manager. "There is something very magical and wonderfully different about Fort Vancouver at night and this program invites the visitor share in that experience."

"Fort Vancouver no longer has a slow season. This tour and several other programs have filled a niche in what has typically been the quiet time of year for the park," explained Greg Shine, the park’s Chief Ranger and Historian. "Autumn and winter at Fort Vancouver bring exciting seasonal changes that we are beginning to better reflect in our programming. The shorter days and longer nights really lend themselves to programs like the Lantern Tours."

For further information about these tours and to make a reservation please call the Visitor Center at 360.816.6230.

Background: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service and the only National Park in the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area, is the heart of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve. The Vancouver National Historic Reserve brings together a national park, a premier archaeological site, the region's first military post, an international fur trade emporium, one of the oldest operating airfields, the first national historic site west of the Mississippi River, and a waterfront trail and environmental center on the banks of the Columbia River. The partners of the Reserve teach visitors about the fur trade, early military life, natural history, and pioneers in aviation, all within the context of Vancouver’s role in regional and national development. The Reserve's vast array of public programs -- including living history events, festivals, cultural demonstrations, exhibits, active archaeology, and other special activities -- create a dynamic, fun, and unique tourist destination for people of all ages.

Last updated: February 28, 2015

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Contact info, mailing address:.

800 Hatheway Road, Bldg 722 Vancouver, WA 98661

360 816-6230

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Lantern tours illuminate life at Fort Vancouver in 1840s

Volunteer Reggie Coats explains what went on in the Fort Vancouver fur store during an October 2017 lantern tour at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

If you want to get a real taste of what life at Fort Vancouver felt like nearly two centuries ago, try exploring the place in the darkness and hush of nighttime — with a simple candle lantern as your guide. Evening lantern tours of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site are now open for reservations for the 2019-2020 winter season.

“We have regular tour programs during the day, but this is a more intimate, personal journey. You’re immersed,” said Aaron Ochoa, chief of interpretation at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. “The ambiance of the night … really allows you to step back into history and experience things in a more intimate way.”

Don’t worry, you’re not actually on your own in the historical darkness. A park ranger will provide enlightening commentary while steering small groups to several buildings in the reconstructed fort.

Costumed living history interpreters, including many graduates of the site’s Youth Volunteer programs, will be bustling about in the Counting House, Fur Store, Chief Factor’s House, Kitchen and Bake House, showing off the many activities that would have been underway during evening hours at Fort Vancouver in the 1840s.

What: Lantern Tours at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

When: Nov. 23 and 30; Dec. 21 and 28; Jan. 18 and 25; Feb. 22 and 29. Arrive by 6:45 p.m. for 7 p.m. tour.

Where: The reconstructed fort at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, 1001 E. Fifth St.

Cost: $25 for adults, $10 for youth 15 and under.

Reservations and payments: www.friendsfortvancouver.org

Clerks, cooks, furriers, military officers, children, wives and community leaders all get to have their say. For example, you’ll drop by the quarters of the Barkley family and listen in as they discuss the anxious news of the day: a looming shift of national boundaries, converting the land under their feet from Great Britain to the United States.

“You’ll get a sense of the tension of the employees of this British establishment, the Hudson’s Bay Company, when things are about to change,” Ochoa said.

Activities in the kitchen will provide an entirely different feel for history, Ochoa added: “The volunteers will be cooking and you’ll smell it, you’ll see it, you’ll feel the heat coming from the hearth.”

The fort’s lantern tours are always popular, and reservations are required via www.friendsfortvancouver.org. Admission is $25 per adult and $10 per youth. All lantern tours are rain or shine and last approximately 90 minutes; they’re not recommended for children under the age of 10. Please arrive at 6:45 p.m. for the tour, which will start promptly at 7 p.m.

Ochoa said his favorite aspect of lantern tours at the fort is the young volunteers who’ve dedicated themselves to understanding local history and sharing it with others.

“They develop so many skills, including public speaking skills,” he said. “Whenever I get to hear our youth bringing these stories to life, whenever I get to watch a student pour their passion into this — I always take a step back. No matter what building I’m in or who’s speaking, that’s my favorite moment.”