"A Trip To Fort William" Thunder Bay by yooperprof

The Largest Trading Post in the GreatNorthwest Frontier!

"Welcome to the Year 1815"! The sign is intended to prepare visitors for what they experience while visiting Fr. William: a carefully re-constructed fur trading post from the early nineteenth century. And travellers will find not only structures, but also "role-playing interpreters" who have donned the garb of frontier traders, voyageurs, and natives - and who have also assumed their personalities!

Ft. William is a good example of what might be termed "immersion" role-playing, wherein the re-enactors are trained not to demonstrate any knowledge which would not have been present at the fort in 1815. The re-enactors are carefully trained: they have diligently studies not only the characters they are portraying, but also the entire time-period they are presenting. I like the way that places like Ft. William blend theater and history.

a "Sleeping Giant" in the distance

Pretty boats at the Marina.

Thunder Bay is actually a hard-working and spartan city of about 100,000 people, an important port and trading center linking the prairie provinces with the Great Lakes. While shipping has declined, it's still an important presence here. And winters are fierce. Geography is still a major factor in the life and work of the community here.