Lantern tours shine light on Fort Vancouver’s past

When it comes to illuminating an era of history, a candle can be better than a spotlight.

An expanded season of Fort Vancouver lantern tours starts Saturday. It includes a new series of walks in the former Vancouver Barracks military base.

While the traditional walks evoke the era of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 1840s, the Vancouver Barracks walks might stir the memories of local residents who were here during World War II. That five-walk series begins on Oct. 17.

The tour inside the reconstructed stockade, dubbed “An Evening at the Fort,” will include a lantern-lit look at the fort’s counting house, fur store, chief factor’s house, kitchen and bake house.

Each building will be the setting for a historical vignette presented by costumed re-enactors. The cast will include youth volunteer graduates of the Young Engag? program and the Dame School, said Greg Shine, historian and chief ranger.

All walks are Saturday evening programs and are led by National Park Service guides and rangers.

Other Park Service personnel can wind up as part of the show, said Shine, who has portrayed several historical figures. These days, Shine said, he fills in where there are gaps in the living history programming.

Other information

Due to program length, lantern tours are not recommended for children younger than 10 years old.

The parking lot adjoining the reconstructed Fort Vancouver at 1001 E. Fifth St. will open at 6:30 p.m.

Participants are asked to arrive no later than 6:45 p.m. and check in at the contact station just inside the main gate.

Tours last about 1 1/2 hours.

Dress for the weather and the terrain, since tours will be outside and on sidewalks, pathways, grass and uneven ground surfaces.

If a lantern tour is cancelled because of weather, it will be rescheduled to the nearest of the following dates: Nov. 7, Jan. 2, Jan. 30, Feb. 27.

More information is at http://go.usa.gov/3MS6j.