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, Colo.
The Arnolds hired William Lumpkins, a top architect in adobe construction, as well as a contractor from New Mexico. The Fort was first authentic replica of Bent’s … Read the entire post >
Summer is road trip season, and we’ve mapped out a historic and educational road trip for you and yours to adventure on this summer. The Southwestern region of the United States was once a breeding ground for adobe forts, which served as a commercial place for merchants, hunters and trappers to conduct trade and protect their goods. Today, many of these forts have been restored and now serve as must-visit historical monuments. From Colorado to New Mexico and all the … Read the entire post >
This summer, The Fort will open its gates to the public as the Tesoro Cultural Center expands its educational programming and cultural events with their new Living History Experience. Using our historic adobe structure as its primary teaching tool, Tesoro will introduce 20 weekends of historic immersion and fun for the whole family. Join us for shopping, art, music, historic demonstrations and more.
Visitors will learn about Bent’s Old Fort and the cultural diversity that inspired the Arnold family to … Read the entire post >
The Fort’s founders Samuel and Elizabeth Arnold were both avid historians, and felt a true connection to the American West. The couple wanted to raise their children in the foothills outside Denver, and dreamed of building an authentic adobe home there. Elizabeth, lovingly known as Bay, was struck by the architecture and history of Old Bent’s Fort while reading a history book, and suggested she and Sam build a true replica of the adobe Castle of the Plains to be … Read the entire post >
Carpenters, blacksmiths and trappers, oh my! This past March, “Frontier Skills Day” at Bent’s Old Fort invited visitors to step back in time more than 180 years, and live a day as frontiersmen through an immersive role-play experience. Hosted by the National Park Service, the March 19 event put visitors to the test with survival activities such as adobe brick-making, frontier cooking, fur trading and learning Indian sign language.
“Frontier Skills Day” reenacted the bustling life of the historic fort, … Read the entire post >
During the first few decades of operation at The Fort, the recipe for our pumpkin-walnut muffins was requested by guests on what seemed to be a nightly basis. Generations later, we are sharing the secret ingredient to our favorite bread; it’s all about the pumpkin! These muffins contain nearly twice as much pumpkin as similar recipes, and are cooked for a long time at a low temperature to give them the dense, flavorful texture that guests have come to love.… Read the entire post >
