fort laramie national historic site

We spent some time here walking around looking at the old and restored buildings. Great historical stop on our trip back home.

Not knowing allot about American history, we found this quite fascinating to visit and learn a little more about the olden days. Many hours spent here and can easily recomend

Yet another well preserved and/or reconstructed gem in our National Parks system. Fascinating history, well preserved here. Staff was very pleasant, knowledgeable and helpful. The self guided tour with audio is well worth the few dollars it costs. For a western history buff this is a great place to visit and we highly recommend it, but plan on at least a few hours to absorb all of it. the gift shop's book selection is really comprehensive. .

Strategically located on the Oregon Trail, Old Fort Laramie (1834-1890) has seen it all: Pony Express Riders, Indian Chiefs, Army units, fur trappers and traders, homesteaders, cowboys, lawmen and criminals, gold chasers and gold finders, they all passed through here. The fort got its name from Jacques La Ramée, a French Canadian Mountain Man and fur trader. Presumably, he was killed by the Arapahoe Indians, but his name stayed and can be found today in a county, city and mountains. By 1845 Oregonian settlers were trickling through the Fort at the rate of 4,500 people a year. Brigham Young passed it with his Mormons while on the way to Zion where he would found Salt Lake City. In 1846 Congress passed an act providing for establishing Military Forts on the Oregon Trail and Fort Kearney was soon established. The Californian discovery of gold in 1848 speeded up this process and in 1849 the US Government purchased Fort Laramie from the American Fur Company which was owning and operating it at the time. A total of 39,000 Fourty-Niners have been estimated to stop here the first year in their mad rush for Californian gold. 1947 saw the signing of a Treaty with the Indians which provided them with payments of $50,000/year in exchange of not attacking the Oregonian Trail migrants. The treaty was promptly followed by 25 years of intermittent wars with the Indians. Such is the irony of life. Another Fort Laramie Treaty (the Nth?) was broken after the discovery of Gold in the Black Hills. The famous Calamity Jane is alleged to have played different roles at Fort Laramie in the late 1870s where she allegedly met Wild Bill Hickok as well as Buffalo Bill. The arrival of railroads, the end of the Indian wars and the development of new routes brought about the demise of Fort Laramie in 1890 when it was sold at a public auction "being no more required for military purpose". For the next fifty years the Fort survived as a forlorn country village, until 1938 when the Federal Government reclaimed it for National Park. Scarcity of local construction resources had caused the destruction of a lot of the structures (ironically, the Fort was largest at the time of its demise, some 65 buildings are inventoried shortly before 1890). Today's Fort Laramie National Park is open every day except a few official holidays. On our way to here, I had visions of John Wayne, mentioning the Judge in Ft Laramie, or bringing a prisoner to there, it sounded heroic and exciting, Pioneer stuff like. The visit was rather disappointing. The place is now managed by the U.S. Park Service, staffed with disinterested Federal Government employees, all the original buildings are rebuilt to a degree where they have completely lost authenticity. Cold Plexiglas walls separate the visitor from the actual exhibits. The Visitors Center has an extensive and I mean extensive collection of related books, brochures, photos and other documentation, all organized and presented in a sensible, entertaining and educational way. Admittance is a modest $3/person good for 7 days with many Inter agency and Military passes honored. Pets are allowed and the Park even has watering stations. You can walk around and visit the different buildings (there is a map). Permits are required for commercial photography.

Not sure what we were expecting to see (maybe wooden walls forming a rectangle around a small cavalry outpost with guard towers and a main gate...like you see in western movies), rather Fort Laramie is a sprawling site with the remains (restored ruins in some cases) of the military outpost here. It was a cavalry outpost in the early 1800's to help protect the travelers and traders that used the Oregon Trail (not far from here you can see another site where the actual Oregon Trail ran, and where the steel on the wagon wheels cut ruts in the rocks). The sprawling site contains many buildings that you can tour (barracks for enlisted, officers quarters, housing for commander and base doctor). It got its name from being on the Laramie river and you can walk down to the river. Not much in the way of food/shopping at the site itself but the town of Ft. Laramie is only 3 miles away. The site is run by the National Park Service and the cost to get in is $3. A nice look back into the history of the wayward west!

I was expecting this to be a full fort with lots of buildings and history. There is indeed a lot of history here and you can read about it on the plaquards or use a headset for an audio tour but a lot of this place is no more...just ruins of buildings. There are several buildings that have been renovated and do contain period pieces and those were fascinating to see, I especially liked the Cavalry barracks as my son is currently in the Army and it's neat to see the way the old soldiers lived, ate, etc. We spent 3-4 hours here as it is a large area to walk around and see everything. There is a small visitor center as well with a movie. We should have watched it but we didn't. All in all it was an interesting way to spend the day.

Fort Laramie is an important part of the history of the west. Not only was it a fort during the Indian wars but it was a trading post for trappers before that and a resupply stop for the wagon trains before they hit the mountains. If you're expecting a stockade fort, this isn't it. The only time there was a stockade here was before it was purchased by the Army. Once the army started building it was too large to enclose.After seeing the orientation film in the visitor's center we got the audio tour. The player was a little fussy but the audio tour added a lot to our experience. There are a number of restored buildings to go in. The one that sticks most in my mind is the barracks, to see how close the living quarters really were. Other buildings were also restored to their uses during the various periods. Other buildings are only walls and others are gone. The overall effect gives a good idea of what life would have been like when the fort was in operation. This is another place where if you take your time and take advantage of the information provided, the experience is greatly improved.

I was completely caught off guard as I thought this was a different kind of Fort. I had no idea as to the vastness of this important community in our U.S. history. The location is completely out of the way and not close to anything, but WELL worth the time it takes to get there.The scenery was stunning and the attraction was fascinating. Our entire family learned a lot about this time in our history. Your national parks pass works here.

Its off the interstate a ways but well worth the visit. Very interesting visitors center with good film. Some of the buildings are well preserved especially the calvary barracks. Many of the officers quarters you can look in. We really enjoyed the visit, you could feel the history.

This was a interesting and fun way to see how the Calvary members and their families live during this period in history. The building are well maintained, the staff was helpful. We were lucky the day we were their because we say a actors playing the parts of various people.

If you love History, many of these old Forts are SO interesting! Amazing how they were built and the soldiers they used to serve. They were out in the middle of nowhere to fight the Indians or whatever they needed to do to help establish land for the United States! The old buildings are just like they used to be and their history is interesting! Even an old cannon there.

Off the beaten path but well worth a visit. Be sure to purchase the audio tour which only costs $3. This is an American Automobile Association great experience for members recommendation.

The fort was well worth the stop. The audio tour is great, we learned a lot about the history of the fort and the area.

The historic site is one of the best restored and maintained I have ever visited, with the feeling of being there with the Army very strong.It also gives one a new understanding of the wagon trains crossing the plains as well as the local Indians life. Close your eyes as the bugles play and step back to 1860.s.

This was an impressive stop to make but it was nothing like the movies of the 1950's! No walls around it at all. Lots of buildings to go into, to see the life of the troops stationed there. Be sure to see the short movie in the Visitor's Center for perspective.