Historic Garden at Grand Portage

Historic vegetables grown from heirloom seeds dating back to the fur trade era.

NPS Photo / GM Spoto

Quick Facts

Significance:

heirloom seeds

Amenities

3 listed

Accessible Sites, Information - Ranger/Staff Member Present, Trash/Litter Receptacles

The Historic Vegetable Garden

The Grand Portage historic kitchen garden is located inside the palisade behind the kitchen. The North West Company operated its post here from 1778 to 1803. Many vegetable varieties grown in the garden now date back to the 1700s and early 1800s. Vegetable varieties from 200 years ago and earlier are still available today because Native American and early settler families saved seeds from their harvests to plant in the following year. The seeds saved were handed down from one generation to another.

The present garden consists of a raised bed. The bed is not historic; it is to protect any artifacts in the ground under the beds that has not been completely excavated by archeologists. The garden behind the kitchen represents a typical fur trade kitchen garden. The kitchen garden is planted with a mix of Native American, European, and Asian vegetables and herbs. A more European-gardening style is used, with vegetables planted in rows instead of hills and beans running up poles rather than cornstalks.

The Seed Trade

American Indian tribes had well established trade routes long before the first European explorers arrived in North America. Along with other items, seeds were traded among Indian tribes. The explorers and settlers brought their seeds with them to North America. When the Indians and early settlers started trading, seeds were among the objects exchanged. Indians adopted peas and parsnips, and the settlers began growing beans, squash, and corn in their gardens.
The Original Grand Portage Garden

According to diaries of fur traders who were at Grand Portage, the main crop grown in the garden was potatoes. Diaries of fur traders at interior North West Company posts beyond Grand Portage and a 1797 inventory taken at Grand Portage suggest that other vegetables were grown as well. The garden provided fresh vegetables for North West Company gentlemen who came for Rendezvous. The garden also produced vegetables for winter storage and use by the few company employees who were stationed at Grand Portage for the winter. Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) women and sometimes voyageurs planted and tended the gardens.