What better way to spend a Saturday than exploring where the Mighty Mississippi begins! This all day tour on the last day of the 2014 AASLH Annual Meeting takes you from a living history village to the place of origin for the Dakota people.
Exploring the Minnesota River
Saturday, September 20
8 am–5 pm
Cost: $75
Tour fee in addition to Annual Meeting registration fees.
The first major tributary of the Mississippi is rich with sites that are central to the history of the state of Minnesota. Start your day on the river at The Landing, a living history village depicting life from the 1840s–1890s.
From there, travel downriver to the Sibley House Historic Site in Mendota, a major center of the region’s fur trade. Conclude your day with an afternoon in the area known as B’dote—where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers meet. Considered by many to be the place of origin for the Dakota people, it is also the place where the U.S. government set up its headquarters at Fort Snelling—first to protect business interests in the fur trade, but ultimately to manage settlement of 32nd state.
Visit Historic Fort Snelling and learn not only Dakota and military history, but the story of Dred and Harriet Scott, whose time here became the basis for their landmark Supreme Court case.
Tour Pilot Knob and hear about the remarkable preservation story of this prominent site above the rivers and a traditional place of burial for the Dakota. And last but not least, tour Fort Snelling State Park, a place of natural beauty and historic interest in the heart of the Twin Cities.
