A few hundred Scouts will breathe new life into a century-old chapter of Vancouver Barracks history during a weekend camping event.
They won’t even have to wake up.
On Friday, Boy Scouts of the Fort Vancouver District will open their 2018 Camporee at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. They will set up their tents and sleep Friday and Saturday night on the historic Parade Ground, just south of Officers Row.
The campers will reflect a scene that was familiar 100 years ago or so — except, of course, for modern tent designs, colors and materials.
“It’s the same place on the Parade Ground that the soldiers used” for pitching tents in the 1800s and early 1900s, said Doug Wilson, National Park Service archaeologist. “It ties to a lot of things at the historic site.”
The setting is captured in a 19th-century image in the Fort Vancouver archives. The hand-colored postcard, printed in the late 1800s, shows troops and their tents, with a barracks building off to the side. There also is an American flag on a tall pole, waving against a background of white clouds and blue sky.
That flagpole represents another aspect of the camporee’s historic echoes. The white wooden pole disappeared decades ago, and changes in command structure meant the American flag at Vancouver Barracks flew near the O.O. Howard House.
But a new version of that Parade Ground pole was dedicated a year ago, when an extra-big Old Glory known as a garrison flag was unfurled.
“The troop was invited to help raise the garrison flag,” said Dave Carsten, chief of this week’s Scout event.
During a discussion with a friend, the Parade Ground itself became a topic: it would be a great place for a camporee. All the key players were at that Memorial Day ceremony, including Tracy Fortmann, superintendent at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
Fortmann suggested they explore the possibility.
It all happened “within 30 minutes,” Carsten said.
“The National Park Service has a long-standing relationship with the Boy Scouts of America,” Fortmann said, so it was a comfortable fit.
Fort Vancouver will remain open during Saturday’s events. The Scout activities will not be open to the public, but visitors will be able to watch competitions and demonstrations that reflect life at Fort Vancouver in the fur-trapping era.
In a Dutch oven competition, cooks will follow recipes for desserts using spices and ingredients that were available at Fort Vancouver in the 1840s.
Regional voices from that era also will be represented. Members of the Cowlitz Tribe, another partner in the event, will teach Scouts the Chinook trade jargon known as Chinuk Wawa.
The camporee will also host a leadership-training program for girls who are interested in becoming part of the scouting program.
“The Cascade Pacific Council is an early adopter of family scouting, which will include girls ages 11-17 in the scouting program scheduled for February 2019,” Mike Filbin, Fort Vancouver District Chairman, said in a news release.
