FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Diane Rogness or Fern Swenson
April 26, 2008
(701) 328-2666
STATE HISTORIC SITES TO OPEN FOR SEASON MAY 16
BISMARCK – North Dakota’s state historic sites will open May 16 with a busy summer season of programs and events at several locations, and remain open through September 15. Among the sites opening that day are Fort Buford near Williston, the Chateau de Mores in Medora, Fort Totten near Devils Lake, Gingras Trading Post near Walhalla, Fort Abercrombie near Fargo and Wahpeton, the Former Governors’ Mansion and Camp Hancock in Bismarck, Fort Clark Trading Post near Washburn, and Whitestone Hill Battlefield near Kulm.
Visitors will enjoy new interpretive centers at the Chateau de Mores and Fort Abercrombie. Grand opening events take place this weekend at the Chateau. The new $2 million facility tells the story of the Marquis de Mores, a French nobleman and entrepreneur who, from 1883-86, ran a cutting-edge meatpacking plant and other businesses in the town he named after his wife. The center will be open year-round. The grand opening of the $1.3 million interpretive center at Fort Abercrombie occurs Sunday, May 18, telling the story of this “Gateway to the Dakotas” that includes the fort’s role in the Dakota Conflict of 1862 and its service as a supply post during its years of operation from 1858 to 1877. The Pembina State Museum, a regional museum of the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND), features a seven-story high observation deck that presents a panoramic view of the Red River Valley area, and includes exhibits about the history of the region. It is open year-round. Travelers to northwest North Dakota can visit the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center near Williston. Also open year-round, it features exhibits telling the early and modern history of the area, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The home of the state’s history agency, the SHSND, is the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, the largest museum in the state and open year-round, featuring exhibits exploring life on the Northern Plains, from prehistory to the present.
Weekend entertainment at some sites will feature the free popular museum theater program, History Alive!, portraying historic figures from North Dakota’s past. Unique events include De Mores Day June 14 in Medora, in honor of the Marquis’s 150th birthday; Gingras Day! July 5, featuring living history performances and traditional music at the Gingras Trading Post; the Killdeer Mountain History HikeJuly 26, with a guided hike to the top of Killdeer Mountain and a program about the 1864 Battle of Killdeer Mountain and Medicine Hole; the 26th Annual Fort Buford Sixth Infantry Frontier Military Encampmentat Fort Buford August 16-17; the Annual Lawn Party August 17 at the Former Governors’ Mansion; the 9th Annual Education Field Day September 5 at Whitestone Hill Battlefield; and the 16th Annual Living History Field Day September 15 at Fort Totten, as hundreds of students visit the site.
Membership in the SHSND Foundation, a private, non-profit organization supporting the programs and activities of the state’s history agency, provides free admission to all state historic sites and many other benefits. For more information, call (701) 222-1966 or visit its website at www.statehistoricalfoundation.com. For more about this summer’s schedule of events and programs at the sites, contact the SHSND at (701)328-2666 or visit its website at www.nd.gov/hist.
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