Fort Vancouver National Historic Site announces virtual field trip program

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With the 2020-21 school year looking different for many schools in the Portland and Vancouver Metro Area, the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site has developed a new virtual field trip program to allow students to connect to its history. The educational program focuses on the 19th century Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading post of the fort. 

The online field trip program features new videos produced by the National Park Service on five of Fort Vancouver’s buildings. The videos are paired with articles on the history of kids at Fort Vancouver, discussion questions and educational activities. 

Beginning in January, teachers will now have the option to schedule a time for a national park ranger to connect with their classroom by scheduling a live, virtual ranger question and answer session. Reserved time slots begin in February. 



“In a typical year, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site welcomes thousands of local school children to the national park to learn about this historically significant place and the important history behind it,” Superintendent of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Tracy Fortmann said in a news release, “Since our ability to host field trips this year has been limited, we have designed this program to help support educators and students as they learn about the history of the Northwest. I am so proud of the program our staff have developed, and hope it will be a wonderful resource for our local community as well as communities throughout the United States. It has been a tough year for everyone and we understand that remote learning can be difficult. We hope that this program will assist teachers in providing their students with a special offering.”