These programs were offered at Fort Nisqually during 2009.  If you interested in any of these programs they can be made available with two weeks notice.  Please contact me with your questions.

January
1/25 at 2:00PM.   As Jacques Portier, retired Nor' Wester, John will share French Songs of the 19th Century Northwest Fur Trade.  Voyageur Song Lyrics

February
2/22 at 2:00PM.  Kumtux Chinook? As Jacques Portier, retired Nor’Wester, John will cover aspects of the Chinook Jargon and it role in the early Northwest.  Chinook Jargon Primer

March
3/22 at 2:00PM.   Kumtux Chinook, weght? As Jacques Portier, retired Nor’Wester, John will hold a workshop to assist participants wanting to learn some practical Chinook Jargon in a living history context. 

April
4/26 at 2:00PM.  Story telling (Part 1 of 2 parts).  This is theater in its most intimate form.  By flickering fire light at the end of the day or on a quiet afternoon among friends with nothing more important to do, a good story takes us back to our social beginnings.  John will tell a couple of tales and hold a workshop on this ageless tradition. 

May
5/24 at 2:00PM.  Story telling (Part 2 of 2 parts).  John will tell a tale or two and continue the workshop on story telling. 

June
6/28 at 2:00PM.  The banjo and the guitar of the 19^th Century.  John will present a combination of history and music from the 19^th Century.
 

July
7/26 at 2:00PM.  Bourgeois and Voyageur; What they really looked like.  A discussion of attire among the North West Company and HBC in the 18^th and 19^th Century.  The focus will be on male fashion, but there will also be some discussion of common female attire. 

August
8/23 at 2:00PM.  75 years in Point Defiance Park.  John will cover the inspiring story of how Fort Nisqually, in the midst of the Great Depression of the 20^th Century,  ended up in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park. 

September
9/27 at 2:00PM.  Newspapers and journalism of the 19^th Century.  How much did the average Puget Sound resident of the 1850s know about the world around him?  As Mart Taylor, a traveling American entertainer, John will discuss news events of the 1850s and share authentic publications of the time period.  

October
10/25 at 2:00PM.  Birch Bark Canoes.  A discussion of the “18 Wheeler & the Pick-up Truck” of the fur trade.  As Old Nor'Wester Jacques Portier, John will discuss traveling the Voyageur Highway by birch bark canoe in the 18th and 19th Century.     

November
11/15 at 2:00PM.  As Congressman John Quincy Adams, John will discuss Eastern influences on the development of Washington State focusing on the "Convention of 1818" allowing for joint occupation and settlement of the Oregon Country, the present day States of Washington and Oregon.   

December
12/27 at 2:00PM.  “Jour de L'An”.  Come join with Jacques Portier, Old Nor'Wester and celebrate the "day of the New Year".  Including songs, stories and the poetry of William Henry Drummond.

Presentations are suitable for elementary school age through adult audiences.