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Fort Abercrombie Historic Site Development Ft. Abercrombie, North Dakota |
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Reconstruction on the site of historic Ft. Abercrombie (1858- 1877) occurred in 1933 under the Civilian Conservation Corp, but little documentation of their research or records of the rationale of their restorative judgments has survived. With little authentic integrity in place, the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND), which controlled and managed the site, did relatively |
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| little to maintain, interpret, or develop the site over the last fifty years. The site was left largely in the hands of a local interest group whose approach cluttered the site with unrelated historic elements and misguided improvements and maintenance. In 1998, the SHSND refocused on the site and commissioned YHR Partners to prepare a strategic development plan for presentation to public and private funding sources and restructure the operational relationship with the local advocacy group. Working closely with the State's Historic Sites Division, YHR Partners prepared a four-phase development strategy involving corrective maintenance of the impugned reconstructed blockhouses and stockade, redevelopment of the parking and approach, reconstruction of a Visitors Center in one of the original structures on site, and reinterpretation of the role of the fort and the way that story is conveyed to the visitor. |
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