8/20/18 Bent's Old Fort National Monument, CO

Sign at the entrance to Bent's Old Fort in southeastern Colorado. 

This rock is also at the entrance. It's hard to read, but it says that The Daughters of the American Revolution and the state of Colorado are responsible for preserving the history of this fort and the Santa Fe Trail.

Looking at the fort from a distance.

The one entrance to the fort.   

 This sign says that the border between the U.S. and Mexico at this time, around 1830, was located here along the Arkansas River. 

On the first floor of the fort are this 'store', kitchen, meeting rooms, a blacksmith shop, a carpentry shop, a well, and places for horses, cows, chickens and peacocks to live. 

This was a trading post and on the 'road' to the west. Many travelers coming across the area by wagon stopped here to resupply and have their wagons repaired before heading into the mountains.

A view from the 'second floor' of the fort where there were rooms for people to sleep and a billiard parlor and saloon for entertainment. The Bent brothers who built this fort also owned a woman slave who lived at the fort. 

A bedroom on the second floor. Notice the bear rug, banjo on the bed and curtain over the bed. 

A Conestoga wagon sits outside the entrance to the fort.

Another view from the second floor of the fort.