Fort Vancouver NHS & Grant House Restaurant Partner to Launch New Program

Date: February 7, 2011
Contact: Aaron Ochoa, 360-816-6233
Contact: Kimm Fox-Middleton, 360-816-6243
Contact: Greg Shine, 360-816-6231

The National Park Service at Fort Vancouver NHS and the Grant House Restaurant are pleased to announce a partnership meal and Lantern Tour package. Expanding Fort Vancouver's Lantern Tour series, visitors on this tour will explore the West Vancouver Barracks buildings with a costumed park guide and enjoy a three-course meal in the comfort of the historic Grant House.

This Barracks Lantern Tour is a wonderful opportunity to visit the West Barracks after normal park hours. Each adult attending the program will carry their own lantern as they follow a park guide inside portions of the original Barracks structures and learn about Vancouver from the Civil War to present. Before or after either hour-long tour, visitors may warm up and enjoy their three-course dinner in the cozy atmosphere of the oldest original building on the reserve: the Grant House.

• When: Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011. Tour at 6:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Tours begin at the General O.O. Howard House at 750 Anderson Street in Vancouver, WA. Guests may park in the Grant House parking lot or in Howard House parking lot.
• Cost: $30 for the tour and dinner combination, or $10 for tour only.

Reservations Required: Please call the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Visitor Center at [phone].

This tour includes an hour of walking and standing and is thus recommended for visitors 15 years and older.

Information on the Grant House Restaurant available online at: www.thegranthouse.us

This program's fixed dinner menu (included in the $30 ticket price):

• Small green salad with red wine vinaigrette, cucumbers and croutons;
• Beef stew with carrots, onion, celery and potatoes or winter Minestrone with winter squash, onion, garlic, celery, carrots, potatoes and white beans
• Bread and Butter
• Almond and pear frangipane tart served with a port wine syrup
• Coffee, soda or iced tea

Background: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service and the only National Park in the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area, is the heart of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve. The Vancouver National Historic Reserve brings together a national park, a premier archaeological site, the region's first military post, an international fur trade emporium, one of the oldest operating airfields, the first national historic site west of the Mississippi River, and a waterfront trail and environmental center on the banks of the Columbia River. The partners of the Reserve teach visitors about the fur trade, early military life, natural history, and pioneers in aviation, all within the context of Vancouver's role in regional and national development. The Reserve's vast array of public programs -- including living history events, festivals, cultural demonstrations, exhibits, active archaeology, and other special activities -- create a dynamic, fun, and unique tourist destination for people of all ages.