Fort Vancouver NHS

We spent a drizzly morning at Fort Vancouver NHS.  I honestly wasn't that impressed with it.  I understand that it's an important place in American history and the settlement of the American west, but as a place to visit, it's pretty generic.  Maybe if we visited on a weekend it would have been better- who knows,

 We basically gave ourselves a self tour.  About 1/3 of the buildings were closed, and inside of the buildings that were open there just wasn't much to see or do. 

 This big building is an archeological preservation and storage facility. 

 Climbing the corner tower was fun, but again, there just wasn;t much there.

 The woodworking shop was vacant, but looks really neat. 

The highlight of the tour was the blacksmith shop.  There were several blacksmiths inside telling about what life at the fort would have been like 200 years ago and doing demonstrations.  I was surprised to find out that making a beaver trap was 18-24 hours of work.  Just for one little beaver trap!  After the blacksmith shop, we visited a few more vacant buildings and got shown the door from another because a school group was coming in.  Fort Vancouver- interesting if you have a few hours to kill in Vancouver, Washington, but probably not worth going out of your way to go see. 

Nearest City: Vancouver, WA
Location: N° W°
Time Needed: 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Kid Friendly: Maybe- some find this stuff kinda boring
Additional Info: Fort Vancouver NHS Website