Portland’s most overlooked neighbor has a fur trading fort, a Soviet plane, and 2.5M artifacts

Fort Vancouver’s history goes deeper than you’d expect

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site sits on the north bank of the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, and it’s the only National Park Service unit in the entire Portland-Vancouver metro area.

Inside 207 acres, you get a reconstructed fur trading fort, a free aviation museum, Victorian-era officers’ homes, and one of the most significant archaeology collections in the region.

The park grounds run dawn to dusk, and the fort itself opens Tuesday through Saturday. Entry to the reconstructed fort runs $10 for anyone 16 and older, and kids 15 and under get in free.

How one trading post ran half a continent

In 1825, the Hudson’s Bay Company planted its Pacific Northwest headquarters right here.

Chief Factor John McLoughlin ran the operation for about 20 years, managing a trade network that stretched from Alaska to California and across the Pacific.

When American settlers came rolling in on the Oregon Trail, McLoughlin handed out supplies and advice, and people started calling him the “Father of Oregon.”

A village of 600 to 1,000 people grew outside the fort walls, drawing residents from more than 35 ethnic and tribal groups. By 1849, the U.S. Army had taken over the site.

Walk the same ground fur traders walked in 1829

The reconstructed fort sits on the original archaeological footprint of the Hudson’s Bay Company post that stood here from 1829 into the 1860s.

Inside the stockade walls, you can walk through the Chief Factor’s House, the bakehouse, the blacksmith shop, the kitchen, the fur store, the carpentry shop, and the jail.

Packed gravel paths connect the buildings, and the bastion anchors one corner of the fort. If you need a wheelchair, you can borrow one at the Contact Station at no extra cost.

Watch a blacksmith forge iron the old way

Volunteer blacksmiths work the forge using the same methods as the fort’s original smiths in the 1800s.

In the reconstructed kitchen, cooking demonstrations show how meals came together in the 1840s, and the carpenter shop runs its own demos when volunteers are on hand.

Throughout the year, the fort hosts lantern-lit tours, costumed performances, and fur trade reenactments.

What’s happening on any given day varies, so call the Fort Vancouver Contact Station the morning of your visit to find out what’s running before you make the drive.

A working garden that feeds the fort’s kitchen

Just outside the northern stockade wall, a reconstructed garden grows flowers, fruits, and vegetables based on historic records and archaeological finds.

The original garden spread to more than eight acres and supplied food, prestige crops, seeds, and cuttings, though its produce went mainly to officers and their guests rather than the whole village.

Today’s smaller version runs on volunteer labor and stays open year-round from dawn to dusk. Produce from the garden goes straight into the historic cooking demonstrations inside the fort’s kitchen.

The garden is free and doesn’t require a fort ticket.

Meet the Kanaka workers who kept this place running

Outside the stockade, a village of workers and their families once covered the landscape. Hawaiian laborers, known as Kanaka, made up a large share of the workforce.

They ran sawmills, sailed company ships, farmed the fields, and packed salt salmon into barrels. The part of the settlement where they lived took on the name Kanaka Village.

French-Canadian voyageurs, Scottish employees, Indigenous peoples, and dozens of other groups lived here too. Reconstructed village homes and interpretive signs now mark the ground where that community stood.

Twenty-one Victorian homes lined up along Officers Row

Step away from the fort and you’ll find Officers Row, a tree-lined stretch of 21 restored Victorian homes built to house U.S. Army officers between 1849 and 1906. All 21 sit on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Grant House, the oldest on the row, dates to around 1849 and carries the name of Ulysses S. Grant, who served as quartermaster at the barracks in 1852 and 1853.

The Marshall House, built in 1886, honors General George C. Marshall, who commanded Vancouver Barracks from 1936 to 1938. A self-guided walking tour covers the whole row.

One of the country’s oldest airfields is right inside the park

The Pearson Air Museum sits inside the historic site and costs nothing to enter.

The museum occupies a historic hangar and covers both military and civilian aviation tied to Pearson Field, one of the oldest continuously operating airfields in the country.

Exhibits include World War I aircraft, aviation artifacts, and panels tracing the field’s role in Pacific Northwest aviation.

On select days, the Pearson Field Education Center opens its flight simulators, a vertical wind tunnel, and historical airplane displays, giving you a hands-on look at what aviation used to take.

A Soviet plane landed here after flying over the North Pole

On June 20, 1937, a Soviet aircraft touched down at Pearson Field after completing the first nonstop flight over the North Pole.

Pilot Valery Chkalov and his two-man crew had left Moscow three days earlier, aiming for California. After more than 63 hours in the air and roughly 5,288 miles of flying, low fuel changed the plan.

They landed at Pearson Field instead. The commanding officer who welcomed them to breakfast that morning was General George C. Marshall.

A monument near the museum marks the landing spot, and the museum holds items donated by the crew members’ families.

2.5 million artifacts and archaeologists still digging

The park’s curation facility holds more than 2.5 million items, and about 90 percent of them come from excavations at this site going back to 1947.

Finds include everyday objects from the fur trade era, military items, and remnants of the multicultural village outside the walls.

When offered, the Public Archaeology Field School has let visitors watch active digs and talk with archaeologists on site.

The Kids Digs program introduces children ages 8 to 12 to real excavation and artifact recording techniques. The digging continues, and new details about fort life keep turning up.

Walk a bridge planted with native species across a state highway

The Vancouver Land Bridge arcs 40 feet wide over State Route 14, reconnecting the fort to the Columbia River waterfront.

Completed in 2008 as part of the Confluence Project, the bridge was designed by architect Johnpaul Jones with consultation from Maya Lin.

Native plantings like Nootka rose and chokecherry line the path, and steel panels carry the words for river, land, and people in nine Native languages.

At the south entrance, a Welcome Gate by Native American artist Lillian Pitt displays two cedar canoe panels with cast-glass faces of Chinook women. The bridge is free to walk or bike.

The Civil War, both World Wars and Junior Ranger badges

Fort Vancouver sits inside the larger Vancouver National Historic Reserve, established in 1996.

Vancouver Barracks has a role in nearly every major chapter of American military history, from the Civil War and Indian Wars through the Spanish-American War, both World Wars, and the Civilian Conservation Corps era.

About 25 miles south in Oregon City, the McLoughlin House preserves John McLoughlin’s retirement home as a separate unit of the historic site.

Kids can work toward three different Junior Ranger badges by exploring the fort, the museum, and the grounds. Trails throughout the reserve draw walkers, runners, and birdwatchers year-round.

Visit Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Washington

Fort Vancouver National Historic Site sits at 1501 E. Evergreen Blvd. in Vancouver, Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.

The reconstructed fort and Pearson Air Museum are open Tuesday through Saturday. Fort admission runs $10 per person for ages 16 and older, and the Pearson Air Museum is free.

On official NPS fee-free dates in 2026, including Aug. 25 during National Park Week, U.S. citizens and residents get in at no charge.

The park grounds, garden, Officers Row, the village area, and the Land Bridge are all free and open dawn to dusk.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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