Place

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, Santa Fe National Historic Trail

Large adobe fort with American flag flying above and a covered wagon, tepee, and path in front of it — View of the reconstructed Bent's Old Fort from the North.
NPS Photo

Accessible Rooms, Audio Description, Automated External Defibrillator (AED), Baby Changing Station, Benches/Seating, Captioned Media, Cellular Signal, Entrance Passes for Sale, Fire Extinguisher, First Aid Kit Available, Gifts/Souvenirs/Books, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information, Information - Maps Available, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present, Junior Ranger Booklet Available, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Pets Allowed, Picnic Shelter/Pavilion, Picnic Table, Tactile Exhibit, Trash/Litter Receptacles, Water - Bottle-Filling Station, Water - Drinking/Potable, Wheelchair Accessible, Wheelchairs Available

For sixteen years, between 1833-1849, Bent’s Fort represented the vanguard of American commerce on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican Southwest. William and Charles Bent, along with Ceran St. Vrain, built the original adobe fort in 1833 for trade with local Native American tribes for buffalo robes. Situated along the northern bank of the Arkansas river in what is now southeastern Colorado, the fort quickly became the center of the expanding holdings of Bent, St. Vrain & Company. Soon, it was also an important stop on the Santa Fe Trail’s mountain route and a center for commercial, social, military, and cultural exchange.

The fort brought together trappers from the southern Rocky Mountains, Anglo-American travelers from Missouri and the east, Hispanic traders from Mexico, and Native Americans, primarily from the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa Tribes. In addition to trading prospects, the fort also provided weary travelers following the Santa Fe Trail with a place to get needed supplies and rest. During the US-Mexican War in 1846, the fort became a staging area for Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny's "Army of the West." Disasters and disease led to William Bent abandoning the fort in 1849.

Over the next fifty years the remains of the fort were reused as a stage coach station, post office, and ranch line camp. Flooding of Arkansas River in 1921 erased the aboveground remains of the old fort.

Although the original fort no longer stands, at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site the fort has been reconstructed and is open to the public. The site preserves the resources associated with the Bent–St. Vrain trading empire and provides visitors with the opportunity to explore the trading post’s complex history.

After your visit, if you are heading West, you have the unique opportunity to stop at Comanche National Grassland and retrace a piece of the Santa Fe Trail at the Sierra Vista Interpretive Site. While you are in the area, visit Iron Spring, an important water stop for Santa Fe Trail travelers. East of Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, you can visit historic Lamar and Boggsville Historic Site.