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Apr 20, 2008 9:23 pm US/Mountain
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Bent's Old Fort Offers Living History Lesson
by Doug Whitehead
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Bent's Old Fort in southeast Colorado offers visitors a living history lesson. It is an authentic reproduction of Bent's Fort built by William Bent in 1833.
For 16 years, Bent's Fort stood at the border of Mexico, marked by the Arkansas River. But it was home to all nationalities.
"You had Germans, you had French. You had a lot of those Indian tribes here, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, Cheyenne, you also had some Delaware Pawnee, Ute," explained Eunice Petralama, an interpreter for the National Park Service.
The fort sat on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail and was prepared to defend itself, but a cannon shot was never fired in anger while it stood.
"This is one of the few places in the West where all our cultures met," said interpreter Greg Holt, "and we were here on peaceful terms."
Now students and tourists from around the nation travel to Bent's Old Fort to learn about frontier life.
"We try to have them live the experience," said Holt, "by smelling the smoke, hearing the noises in the shop, seeing the animals outside the fort. It brings to life what life was like in those days."
Because it was home to so many nationalities and cultures, Bent's Fort was a melting pot, changing behaviors among all its inhabitants.
"A lot of these goods were being incorporated into their own lives; the pots, the knives, all of that was beginning to change that way of life, " said Petramala.
The weekend of June 9 and 10 may be the perfect time to take a trip to Bent's Old Fort. That is when it will host the Living History Encampment when the fort comes alive with characters from the past.
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