Ft. William, Thunder Bay, Canada

[tomcherv]

Was vacation with my family in the Thunder Bay, Ontario area and finally saw some kilts. (We live in Mpls/St. Paul, MN)

Ft. William (www.fwhp.ca) is a historical park that was originated by the NorthWest Company. Since NWC had Scottish founders, some of the guides / employees / reenactors / actors wore kilts. (3 of them actually - 1 of who played the pipes.) Sorry - don't know the tartan designs.

As I don't have a wearable kilt yet, I was not among the kilted that day. I didn't see any other kilts, either at Ft. William or anywhere else. A few times while hiking near the Kakabeca Falls and walking at Ft. William, I caught myself wondering just how much more comfortable I'd be in a kilt. Oh well - it may just be a while before I find out.

If you happen to travel to Thunder Bay, be sure to visit Ft. William - it is a well done site.

Tom

[macwilkin]

Thanks, Tom, for your post. One of my best friends visited Ft. William about five years ago and noted the strong Scottish influence, which you noted. The Northwest Company, or "Nor'westers", were pretty much a Scottish company, with a few French Canadians and Metis thrown in -- William MacGillivray, Simon Fraser, Alexander Mackenzie are just some of the many Scottish names associated with the NWC. The Hudson's Bay Company also had some Scots working for them as well, including a number of boatmen from the Orkney Islands.

Incidently, the local Canadian Army regiment, the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, adopted the MacGillivray tartan back in the 1950's when the old Lake Superior Regiment decided to "go Scottish". The tartan was chosen for the Scottish connections at Ft. William:

http://www.lssr.ca/scottish.htm

Peter C. Newman's "Empire of the Bay" is a good read about the Canadian fur trade & he mentions the Scottish influence --also, "Great Scots!" by Matthew Shaw has a whole chapter on the trade.

Thunder Bay is on my "must visit someday" list!

Cheers,

Todd

[macwilkin]

Tom:

Have you been to Grand Portage National Monument?

http://www.nps.gov/grpo/index.htm

If you like Ft. William, I think you'll like Grand Portage.

T.

[tomcherv]

Yes, I have, but it was many years ago. We did drive close by, but we were under a time crunch and did not have the time to stop.

I did notice that the McGillivray tartan was quite prominent: the vests of the Visitor Center employees, framed on the wall, etc.

However, the kilt that our guide wore was not the McGillivray tartan, as it would have probably been his own family's tartan, rather than his employers.

If you're heading up to Thunder Bay, come by way of Minnesota and stop in Duluth (great ship watching) and Mpls-St. Paul. Fort Snelling is also staffed with guides and a fun place to visit. http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hfs/

It's right near the airport and major roads, so the planes and road noise kind of ruin the atmosphere. Ft. William is a 10 minute walk from the Visitor Center, so road noise is not audible.

[macwilkin]

Yes, I have, but it was many years ago. We did drive close by, but we were under a time crunch and did not have the time to stop.

I did notice that the McGillivray tartan was quite prominent: the vests of the Visitor Center employees, framed on the wall, etc.

However, the kilt that our guide wore was not the McGillivray tartan, as it would have probably been his own family's tartan, rather than his employers.

If you're heading up to Thunder Bay, come by way of Minnesota and stop in Duluth (great ship watching) and Mpls-St. Paul. Fort Snelling is also staffed with guides and a fun place to visit. http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hfs/

It's right near the airport and major roads, so the planes and road noise kind of ruin the atmosphere. Ft. William is a 10 minute walk from the Visitor Center, so road noise is not audible.

Ft. Snelling is another place on my "to visit" list, mostly because it has such a good reputation (like Ft. William and Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island) for historic interpretation -- at one time, Ft. Snelling fielded a 70-man infantry company in 1820's period US Army uniforms, as well as other costumed interpreters, to illustrate life in military forts along the Permanent Indian Frontier(PIF). I'm not too far from another fort on the PIF, Ft. Scott in Kansas (http://www.nps.gov/fosc). Like Snelling, Ft. Scott is literaly in the middle of downton Fort Scott (the town grew around the fort), so the street lights and "town sounds" ruin the atmosphere, especially at night.

So many historic sites, so little time! ;)

Cheers,

Todd

[tomcherv]

If you hit Ft. Snelling at the right time, the Civil War reenactors from the Minnesota First are there.

That's when it gets really fun.