Blog

Design Highlights Two Centuries of History

Posted by Rick Hosmer on June 20 2011| 0 Comments

This Sunday, I took the family for a Father's Day excursion to the Spokane House Interpretive Center at Riverside State Park.

Spokane House is located at the confluence of the Little Spokane River and the Spokane River, northwest of Spokane. The site was founded in 1810 as a fur trading center. It was the first permanent European settlement in the Pacific Northwest and was in business for 15 years until it was moved to a location closer to the Columbia River in Kettle Falls.

Riverside State Park hired us to design interpretive signage that shares the background, artwork and archaeology of his historic site.

On Saturday and Sunday, the site hosted an encampment event commemorating the rich trapping and Native American influence in the region. Re-inactors in period clothing and gear talked with visitors and made demonstrations of primitive flint and steel firestarting, flintlock firearms, beaver trapping and rope making.

Adjacent to the parking area and along the trail to the encampment are interpretive kiosks containing the sign panels that we designed.

It was fun touring the encampment, experiencing the history and seeing the installation of the signage.

This region has an interesting and influential history and we are pleased to use design to educate residents and visitors of the historic aspects of the Spokane House site.