Fort William Historical Park (Old Fort William) is a historical site in Thunder Bay, Ontario, that contains a reconstruction of the Fort William fur trade post from the early 1800s.
Fort William contains 42 reconstructed buildings, a reconstructed Ojibwa village, and a small farm. The site is located on the banks of the Kaministiquia River at Point de Meuron, upstream from the original fort’s site.
Costumed historical interpreters recreate Fort William circa 1816, when fort served as a central transport depot within the North West Company’s network of fur trade outposts. Interpreters represent the many roles and cultures involved in the fur trade, including Scottish fur traders, French Canadian voyageurs and workers, and native hunters and trappers. The native people in the Fort William area are predominantly Ojibwa and are represented among the interpreters.
The site also has a working community of skilled tradesmen (blacksmith, tinsmith, carpenter, cooper, and birch bark canoe builder), who craft products using early 19th-century methods and tools.
Photographs by Kerry G. Hill, July 2018. Please don’t use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved.
