Category: Colorado History

Celebrating 60 Years of Shinin’ Times

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Bent's Old Fort History, Colorado History, Fine Dining, History of The Fort, People of The Fort

(Includes excerpts from Proprietress Holly Arnold Kinney’s “The Fort Cookbook”) 

In 1961, Sam’l and Bay Arnold had a dream to build an adobe home outside of Denver so their family could grow up surrounded by fresh air, horseback riding and fishing. While Bay was reading a book about Bent’s Old Fort, she was inspired to create a similar adobe castle in Morrison, Colorado. 

The Arnolds hired William Lumpkins, a top architect in adobe construction, as well as a contractor from … Read the entire post >

Holly’s Root Vegetable Soup Recipe

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Colorado History, Recipes

(Excerpted from Proprietress Holly Arnold Kinney’s “The Fort Cookbook”) 

If you’re looking for a low-calorie meal to fill your belly in the New Year, we have just the thing. This hearty soup will satisfy your hunger with root vegetables and caramelized onions. Holly makes a large pot of this soup nearly every Sunday and portions it into small plastic containers for a delicious, nutritious and filling lunch or dinner throughout the week.  

Although this soup has never made it onto … Read the entire post >

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Holly’s Posole Recipe

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Colorado History, Recipes

(Excerpted from Proprietress Holly Arnold Kinney’s “The Fort Cookbook”) 

Posole (sometimes spelled pozole) is a stew made of hominy, pork, green and/or red chiles, garlic, Mexican spices and meat broth. Every Southwest Indian and Hispanic family has its own recipe for posole, which is considered comfort food and usually prepared for major feast days, such as Christmas. In New Mexico, more pork is sold for posole during the winter holidays than turkey, ham, roast beef or goose. Posole is also … Read the entire post >

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The Fort’s Curried Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Colorado History, Recipes

(Excerpted from Proprietress Holly Arnold Kinney’s “The Fort Cookbook”) 

Inspired by the familiar squash soups found throughout the Southwest and flavored with East Indian curry—traded at Bent’s Fort in the 19th century—this delicious soup appears on our menu with happy regularity as a soup special. It is perfect served on a cold evening with cornbread and a green salad. 

Follow the recipe below to prepare a hearty bowl for yourself! 

Ingredients 

  • 1 large butternut squash (about 3 ½ lbs.) 
  • 3
… Read the entire post >
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The Fort’s Chopped Green Chile Sauce

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Colorado History, Recipes

(Excerpted from Proprietress Holly Arnold Kinney’s “The Fort Cookbook”) 

It’s one of our favorite times of the year: Green chile season! At The Fort, we make a hot green chile sauce and a mild one, such as the recipe below. It’s wonderfully versatile and can be served on the side or spooned into a pocket cut in a thick steak, as we do for our Gonzales Steak dish, which has been on the menu since 1963! 

Before we get started, … Read the entire post >

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Fire Away! An Interview With The Fort’s Cannoneer

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Bent's Old Fort History, Colorado History, History of The Fort

Longtime fans of The Fort know there’s no better place to celebrate Independence Day than in Red Rocks country! Along with our tasty BBQ specials and classic Colorado views, Fourth of July at The Fort always includes the firing of our historic cannon.

But firing a 19th century cannon is a little different than setting off fireworks, so we asked The Fort’s cannoneer, Norman Hughes, to share more about his unique hobby.

How did you become a cannoneer?

My involvement … Read the entire post >

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Tour The Fort with Tesoro Cultural Center

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Bent's Old Fort History, Colorado History, History of The Fort, People of The Fort, Tesoro Cultural Center

Behind-the-scenes tours of The Fort are the perfect socially-distanced activity for spring! With a guided tour from Tesoro Cultural Center, you can learn about the history of the original Bent’s Old Fort, which operated from 1833-1849 in present-day La Junta, Colo., and was known as the Mud Castle of the Plains.

How did this historic building influence the construction of its replica in Morrison, Colo., and how did The Fort come to be listed on the National Register of … Read the entire post >

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The Fur Trader’s and Bent’s Fort

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Bent's Old Fort History, Colorado History, History of The Fort, Tesoro Cultural Center

Excerpted from Sam Arnold’s Eating Up the Santa Fe Trail.

In the early 1830s, the beaver fur trade in the mountains was still thriving, and fur companies built trade forts at strategic points along the trail to supply both free and company trappers, and to provide goods for the American Indian trade.

From 1824 to 1846, the Arkansas River served as the border between the United States and Mexico. It was logical that Missouri traders Charles and William Bent, along … Read the entire post >

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History’s Chocolate Lovers

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Colorado History, History of The Fort

Written by Sam’l Arnold and excerpted from Eating Up the Santa Fe Trail.

Tablets or slabs of chocolate have been cherished by New Mexican chocolate fanciers for nearly four centuries. In probate inventories, slabs of chocolate were listed among the estate assets of New Mexicans as early as the 17th century. Shortly after the Spanish invasion of Mexico in the early 16th century, Fray Bernardino de Sahagun listed orange, black and white chocolate, sometimes mixed with sweetening or … Read the entire post >

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Strange Eats of the Old West

Posted on by The Fort Storyteller Posted in Bent's Old Fort History, Colorado History, History of The Fort

Written by Sam’l Arnold and excerpted from Shinin’ Times at The Fort

As the mountain men commonly said, “Meat’s meat, howsomever [sic] what kind, as long as it’s meat!” Learn more about the rather interesting types of meat consumed by fur traders and trappers, mountain men, travelers and American Indians alike during the mid-19th century.

Buffalo Tongue

Considered a holy meat by the Indians, buffalo tongue was thought by many to be the greatest gourmet delicacy of 19th… Read the entire post >

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