Travel Back in Time to Fort William, Ontario: Revealing the Historic Heart of Canada’s Past

Today our TWT Goes International series continues as we visit the province of Ontario. In this part of our visit, we explore Fort William, Ontario. We journey back to 1815 when the fur trade was big business in Canada and Fort William was the heart of that business.

Before Fort William, the Dog Park…

We stayed at the Thunder Bay KOA while we visited this part of Ontario. KOA’s are great RV parks for travelers with dogs because they usually have a dog park. We knew the boys couldn’t join us at Fort William, so we made sure they had plenty of fun before we left. This dog park was great! It had a small swimming pool for Tommy, lots of area to run for Winston, and Louie was just happy to follow his brothers around. He’s not too particular!

After about 20 minutes of play, the boys were ready for a nap. And Danny and I were ready to experience Fort William, Ontario.

The Main Event! Fort William, Ontario

In the early 1800’s, fur trading was king in Canada. Driven by the European demand for fur, French voyageurs spread out across the North American continent. European business owners created trade networks with indigenous trappers and voyageurs, meeting fur demand while settling northern Canada.

What was Fort William’s Role in All This?

Once the inland headquarters of the North West Trading Company, Fort William, Ontario was the rendezvous point for much of the Canadian fur trade. Voyagers brought fur packs from the western half of the continent here. Then, they loaded the packs onto larger canoes, and took them east to Montreal. Businessmen and indigenous peoples also met here to trade goods, while farmers and artisans supported the fur trade in their daily lives.

Fort William Today

Today, Fort William, Ontario is known as Fort William Historical Park. As one of North America’s largest living history museums, the fort re-enacts daily life from the early 1800s. Having never been to a well-run living history museum before, Danny and I enjoyed stepping into the lives of the people living at the fort in 1815.

Along the Path

The experience starts as you walk along the long path from the visitors center to the fort. Ostrich Ferns line this path. According to the site map, the ferns make a brown dye that works great to dye material. At the end of the path, a park employee dressed in 1815 period attire met us and explained how to navigate the living history museum.

Our next stop along the trail into the fort was an Anishinaabe Encampment. Growing up in Wyoming, I am very familiar with teepees and other Native American dwellings. But, this was my first experience of the many uses of birch wood! Did you know that the Anishinaabe people use birch wood to cover their homes? They also use it to make canoes, bowls, eating utensils and many other tools and implements that are important for their daily life. I was amazed to learn that birch wood had so many uses!

Inside the Fort

Stepping through the gates of the fort, a collection of park employees greet visitors by re-enacting every aspect of life at the fort. Upon walking into the kitchen, we smelled fresh bread baking. The “Camp Chef” demonstrated how they prepared daily meals and described the enormous meals eaten by the various groups visiting during the yearly rendezvous.

In the Great Hall, we learned about the seating arrangements for each meal and how various groups were seated around the huge tables set with tableware straight from 1815.

In the fur-trading office we attempted to heft the huge 1-ton bales of fur that were carried from the western interior on canoes to the fort, then loaded onto larger canoes and carried east to Montreal. We also learned about how voyageurs “portaged” the canoes and bales of fur from one river to another to transport them east. I am still in awe at the strength of those voyagers from the 1800’s!

In the canoe barn we saw the various canoes used to transport the fur. Voyageurs used different types of canoes for each portion of the journey. The size of the largest canoes surprised us because they were huge!

We also saw other aspects of daily life at the fort. We saw singing and dancing demonstrations, the farm used to grow crops for sustenance through the winter, the general store where clothing and other necessities were bought and traded, and even the hospital were open for visitors to experience a glimpse of life in the early 1800’s.

For our first visit to a living history museum, we sure picked a great one! To see our full experience, check out the video below!

TWT Goes International Continues… What’s Next?

Next time, we visit other parts of Ontario, including some amazing waterfalls! We also experience the torrential rains that seemed to follow us through Canada, but it doesn’t slow us down much. In the meantime, be sure to check out our other Travel-A-Long Adventures, Behind-the-Scenes Blogs, relaxing Drive-A-Longs, and our Top 5 Tips and Tricks. Our brand new Merch Store is open! Visit it to find Traveling with Terriers apparel, swag, and our newly released book available now on Amazon. Until next time, happy traveling!