Fort Gibraltar open for guided tours

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/06/2015 (3780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Festival du Voyageur isn’t just a winter thing.

This year, Fort Gibraltar is celebrating the 10th successive season of its summer historical interpretive centre.

The historic site, located at 866 St. Joseph St., has once again opened its doors to the community to offer guided tours until Aug. 30, where visitors will get the chance to step back in time and immerse themselves in the history and culture of the Red River Colony, organizers say.

The goal of the tours is to transport individuals back 200 years to the fur trade era to rub shoulders with characters who lived in and around Fort Gibraltar with the help of bilingual interpreters.

A new addition this year is FDV’s Voyageur Apprentice Workshops during its summer season, which includes a series of workshops and demonstrations intended to showcase arts and crafts practised by the voyageurs. More information will be available soon.

The historic site was built in 1809 by the North West Company and captured and destroyed by the Selkirk Colony in 1816. It was rebuilt by the North West Company a year later and when the company merged with Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821, the fort continued operations under HBC’s standard.

In 1822, Fort Gibraltar’s name was changed to Fort Garry and 13 years later it was abandoned, though its warehouses were still used. In 1852, the fort was destroyed by the Red River flood and it was eventually rebuilt by FDV in 1978.

For more information, go online at www.fortgibraltar.com

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