From Two Hours to Two Days at Grand Portage National Monument

Watch the feature film - Rendezvous With History: a Grand Portage Story (23 minutes)

The Grand Portage National Monument passport stamp is located at the Heritage Center desk.

Junior Rangers have fun discovering history, while learning about why we need to protect the special treasures found in our National Parks. We need the help of all our rangers to keep Grand Portage National Monument preserved and protected for many more years to come. Pick up a free Junior Ranger activity booklet at the Heritage Center, discover the park, and become a ranger by earning your badge today!

View archaeological artifacts from excavations from the 1930s to the present. Most of what we know about Grand Portage and the fur trade came out of the ground! Through excavations around the North West Company depot, at Fort Charlotte, and on the Portage itself, important information about food, clothing, equipment, the location and layout of the traders’ forts, and the very earliest native inhabitants of this area has been gathered through archaeology.

Learn about Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) culture past and present. Explore the art and craft of the Grand Portage community with many museum objects on display, including tools for woodworking and gathering maple sugar, a cradleboard, a drum, beaded items, and more.

Voyageurs, North Men and Montrealers, made up the bulk of the fur trade employees at Grand Portage. These hardy souls would spend weeks to months in the wilderness transporting trade goods to remote posts either in canoes or on their backs. 

A selection of books and souvenirs are available for sale in the bookstore.

Stop by the Heritage Center for a list of today's programs. Learn how to build a canoe, take a hike with a ranger, find out what is growing in the heirloom garden, and see what kind of food the men of the North West Company ate.

Boozhoo! Bonjour! Welcome to the Depot! In the days of the fur trade, a great variety of people passed through its gates to do business with the North West Company. As you wander the Depot you'll find three reconstructed post and sill log buildings, and four outside areas -- Ojibwe village, Voyageurs Encampment, dock and historic gardens. Living history interpreters and wayside signs provide information about the activities of the period.

Hike the Mount Rose Trail for stunning views of Grand Portage Bay and the Depot. To experience the trek the Voyageurs made as well as Indigenous people before them, hike a portion or all of Gitchi Onagamiing, the Grand Portage Trail.

Grand Portage State Park is the location of the highest waterfall in Minnesota. The waterfalls and rapids along this section of the Pigeon River caused the significance of the Grand Portage Trail bypass for canoe traffic. The wheelchair accessible mile-long (round trip) trail is available year round.