Grand Portage National Monument - Activities

Grand Portage National Monument by National Park Service

In the Great Hall run your hands through luxurious furs of beaver, muskrat, red and cross fox, arctic and timber wolf and bison as you examine the touchable trade goods table. Corner "bedrooms" have areas dedicated to Ojibwe artisans of Grand Portage, historic videos, book sales outlet and furnishings and maps of explorers and traders Peter Pond, David Thompson and Alexander MacKenzie. Take yourself back in time as you gaze over beautiful Grand Portage Bay from the porch of the Great Hall. The Bay is still pristine and remarkably unchanged since the eighteenth century.

Resume your exploration in an adjacent kitchen where wide varieties of fur trade foods are prepared daily. Experience the aroma of fresh baked voyageur wheat bread coming from the outdoor wood-fired clay oven often referred to as a "Quebec-style" oven. Scottish shortbread and scones are baked regularly for the pleasure of majority partners. Fresh herring, wild rice and maple sugar were often prepared whenever Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) families provided the nourishment to their associates in trade.

Housed just outside the stockade in the canoe warehouse, are beautiful examples of Maitre, du Nord freight and Anishinaabe wild rice harvesting canoes constructed from birchbark, cedar and spruce raw materials.

Experience picturesque views of the historic depot, Grand Portage Bay, Isle Royale National Park and the Grand Portage footpath during a walk up the Mount Rose Trail.

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