Sutter’s Fort – Refuge for the Donner Party and Victims of Misfortune – Road Trip Day 11 Ep.30

Lex sez:

Thinking back on my elementary school days, some of my favorite moments, outside of lunch and recess, were the times we went on field trips.  Sure, a lot of the joy I received at the time was escaping the tediousness of the classroom, but there was also the excitement of discovering new things and going fun places!  Of all my field trip memories, my favorite is the trip I took in 4th grade to Sacramento.  We got to see the capitol building, had what I considered a real treat at the time eating dinner at McDonalds and stayed overnight in a hotel!  But the highlight in my mind was visiting Sutter’s Fort.

It seemed extremely appropriate that when Neek, Sar and I arrived at Sutter’s Fort, there was a group of students, the same students we saw in Old Town Sacramento, arriving there for a field trip!  They seemed so excited to be there; possibly because they were escaping the classroom.  Many of the adult chaperones were dressed in period clothes.  Everyone seemed eager to explore and learn the history of the place!

The history of Sutter’s Fort begins with pioneer John Sutter.  His journey to America began under rather dubious circumstances in 1834, leaving his wife and five children behind in Switzerland where he was facing possible jail time because of massive debts.  After five years of extensive traveling throughout North America, Sutter applied to settle in California, which was then part of Mexico, with Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado.  The governor granted this on condition he become a citizen of Mexico after staying there a year.  Sutter did this and created a fortified settlement he called New Helvetia, which means New Switzerland (Helvetia is Latin for Switzerland).  Today, it is known simply as Sutter’s Fort.

As the cavalcade of students festively traipsed by us, we waited at the entrance for my friend Don to arrive.  Don is someone I’ve known for 20 years now living and working together in southern California, but he moved to Sacramento recently and I hadn’t seen him in almost a year.  It was great to meet up with him and I was surprised to learn yet another thing we had in common: both of us visited Sutter’s Fort as part of a fourth grade field trip, just in different schools!

Don and Lex

Wandering around the fort, there was plenty of great exhibits showcasing how life was during the 1840s when Sacramento was a remote outpost.  Employees there show what it was like to cook food and maintain the place.  There is a carpenter’s shop, a weaving room, gunsmith and blacksmith.  The place is filled with lots of wonderful historical artifacts from the time in so many different rooms that were filled with curious exploring students.

Learning how to make butter

Making bread

There is some history presented on John Sutter the man, such as his efforts to help the ill-fated Donner Party in 1847, as well as how James Marshall informed him of his discovery of gold there in 1848, which lead to the California Gold Rush that overran Sutter’s land and bankrupted him.  But there is a darker history that Sutter’s Fort doesn’t go into regarding him.  Sutter has a very poor record in his treatment of Native Americans.  This includes a reputation for “kidnapping, food privation, and slavery” to force them to work for him.  Sutter’s life could be portrayed as a victim of misfortune, but the full story shows he perpetrated quite a bit himself.

A mercantile (and how old are those pickles?)

Guest bedroom

Finally, Neek, Sar and I decided to go to a nearby sandwich shop with Don called Blimpie’s for lunch.  The students were still surrounding the inside of the Fort.  They were very loud in their excitement and it reminded me of just how excited I was to be there at their age (and made me wonder just how loud I was!  Probably comparable.)  It’s great to see this preserved example of living arrangements during the 1840s still open to educate and inspire people of all ages!