Ft William, Ontario

Crossing the border was easy.  A passport and driver's license is all that is required.

The town of Thunder Bay was the next stop and the town's Walmart was my layover for the night.

The next morning I went to the Ft. William Historical Park

To reach the Fort there is a long fern-lined trail...

...that wanders deep into the woods and far enough away from the highway that there was only the sound of birds and the wind in the trees.

A shuttle is available if you don't wish to walk--I walked.

An Indian village was the first sighting...

...nicely seated along the Kaministiquia River. 

Some of the Ojibwe came out to greet me, they spoke really good English.

 Then, through a few more trees, the Fort appeared.

Within the walls of the fort are 42 authentically reconstructed buildings on 25 acres.  They are replicas of the original fort that was constructed in1815 by the Northwest Trading Company.

The Fort is fully staffed by personnel that have assumed the roles of actual people that lived in 1815.

Some were a bit pompous...

But they all answered any questions about the lives and businesses of those that lived at the Fort.

You had, only, to open a door and you would find a house or room occupied..

..by someone willing to tell you about his life at the Fort.

These young gals invited me into the kitchen and gave me some cookies they had baked that  morning in the stone oven beside the fireplace.  The cookies were pretty good--just a little dry.

The buffalo was curing in the sun to be made into pemmican.  The recipe sounded so off-putting that I did not ask for a sample.

Somebody (not part of the staff) thought this was a good place to get married. It seemed a strange locale to me.

This little gal was so into her role I was beginning to think she was telling me her own story--how she was the daughter of one of the owners, married so young and her child didn't have others to play with but he had his own room, and on and on....

I wonder at spending an entire summer role-playing.  I think I would need to 'decompress' at some point.  But  none of these players stepped out of character while I was there.

 The local First Nation's people came in to give us a taste of the music and dancing.

There were all ages and lots of interesting costumes.

But this little guy stole the show.  

Every beat of the Tom-Tom had him up and imitating the dancers.

There he is again.  Someone needs to put him in a costume.

Finally it was time to go back to my little 'Spirit'. 

I took the shuttle back to the parking lot.  I had done enough walking for one day.