Field Trip to Fort Nisqually

Put those kids to work!

They were digging up carrots - white, orange and pink.

Yes, that's the outhouse.

One thing I have loved about moving all around has been learning so much about history. So now we're all learning about the West Coast and Puget Sound Region history. Fort Nisqually was the first permanent European settlement on the Puget Sound and was founded by the Hudson's Bay Company for the purpose of trading beaver pelts. For years both British and Natives, plus French Canadians and Hawaiians worked and lived together here.

The original site was located right here in DuPont. In the 1930's when DuPont Company owned the land and was making explosives here in DuPont they requested that the last two buildings from Fort Nisqually be moved somewhere else to keep the tourists safe. The city of Tacoma purchased the buildings and moved them to Point Defiance Park, building a replica of the rest of the fort around them. This is where we went on our first official field trip. We saw the general store, the manager's house, the blacksmith shop, the laborers' quarters, the kitchen, the towers and the outhouses. There was a garden and an area of kids' toys.