Purpose, Significance Statements, Fundamental Resources and Values, and Interpretive Themes
Purpose
The purpose of Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site is to preserve the location, resources, and stories associated with this commercial and cultural crossroads on the Santa Fe Trail and to provide opportunities for visitor understanding, appreciation, and stewardship.
Park Significance
Significance statements express why Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit.
The following significance statements have been identified for Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site. (Please note that the statements are in no particular order):
Westward Expansion.
Between 1833 and 1849, the fort was the most important staging point for the U.S. commercial and military expansion into what is now the American Southwest, and played a vital role in developing political and cultural ties between the U.S., Mexico, and the Southern Plains tribes, culminating in the military acquisition of the adjacent Mexican territory.
Economy/Commerce.
From its beginning as the first permanent trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, Bent's Old Fort became one of the great centers of the fur trade from 1833 to 1849. Its strategic location between Mexico and the Southern Plains tribes, coupled with the trading company's diplomacy and influence, integrated the Southwest into a global economy reaching from the United States to Mexico, Europe, and Asia.
Role as an Agent of Change.
Bent, St. Vrain & Company's vision for the trading post created alliances through intermarriage, economic interdependence, and political cooperation that made it one of the Southwest's most important cultural crossroads. The fort's influence ultimately propelled multiple changes that had major long-term consequences for American, Mexican, and American Indian tribes' ways of life.
Santa Fe Trail.
The Santa Fe Trail was an international trade route carrying needed material goods between Missouri and northern Mexico, fostering the economic development of the Southwest and American westward expansion. Operated as a trading post by Bent, St. Vrain & Company, Bent's Old Fort's location and prominence led to the development of the mountain route of the Santa Fe Trail and played a critical role in trade relations with Mexico and American Indian nations.
Reconstructed Fort/Historic Setting.
The reconstructed fort and the landscape around the original Bent's Fort reflect the cultural crossroads along the Arkansas River in the mid-19th Century and provide a place to understand the interaction of geography with community, commerce, and conquest.
The History of Commemoration at Bent's Old Fort.
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site reflects changing concepts and societal values related to memorialization and resource stewardship, particularly during the fort’s reconstruction in the 1960s and 1970s.
Fundamental Resources and Values
Fundamental resources and values (FRVs) are those features, systems, processes, experiences,
stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or other attributes determined to merit primary consideration
during planning and management processes because they are essential to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining its significance.
One of the most important responsibilities of National Park Service (NPS) managers is to ensure the conservation of those qualities that are essential (fundamental) to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining its significance. These qualities are called fundamental resources and values. Fundamental resources and values are closely related to legislative purpose, and are more specific than significance statements. FRVs help focus planning and management processes on what is truly significant about the park. If FRVs are allowed to deteriorate, the park purpose and/or significance could be jeopardized.
The identification of fundamental and other important resources and values should not be interpreted as meaning that some park resources are not important. This evaluation is made to separate those resources or values that are covered by NPS mandates and policies from those that have important considerations to be addressed in other planning processes.
The following fundamental resources and values have been identified for Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site:
Reconstructed fort and associated landscape
The Santa Fe Trail
Archeology and artifacts
Interpretive Themes
Interpretive themes are often described as the key stories or concepts that visitors should understand after visiting a park—they define the most important ideas or concepts communicated to visitors about a park unit. Themes are derived from, and should reflect, park purpose, significance, resources, and values. The set of interpretive themes is complete when it provides the structure necessary for park staff to develop opportunities for visitors to explore and relate to all park significance statements and fundamental and other important resources and values.
Interpretive themes are an organizational tool that reveal and clarify meaning, concepts, contexts, and values represented by park resources. Sound themes are accurate and reflect current scholarship and science. They encourage exploration of the context in which events or natural processes occurred and the effects of those events and processes. Interpretive themes go beyond a mere description of the event or process to foster multiple opportunities to experience and consider the park and its resources. These themes help explain why a park story is relevant to people who may otherwise be unaware of connections they have to an event, time, or place associated with the park.
The following interpretive themes have been identified for Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site:
Questions of Security, Sovereignty, and Culture
The history of Bent’s Old Fort, encompassing the interaction among diverse cultures, including Native American tribes, along the borderlands of Mexico and the United States, provides opportunities to explore ideas of security, sovereignty, and culture in the American West.
The Power of Place
Through the tangible structure and replica furnishings, the reconstruction of Bent’s Old Fort enables a deeper understanding of the people, places, and events of the fur trade era of the American West and the Southwestern borderlands.
Natural Setting, Human Endeavor, and Environmental Consequences
The planning, construction, and successful operation of Bent’s Old Fort was powerfully influenced by the geopolitical importance of its location along the Arkansas River within the shortgrass prairie ecosystem, illustrating the intimate connections between natural setting and consequences of human endeavor.
Transportation, (International and Intercultural) Trade, and Commerce
Bent’s Old Fort, by virtue of its role in the fur trade and the Santa Fe trade, was involved with international industries and early examples of multinational commerce, which today continue to transform the lives of human beings around the world.
The History of Commemoration at Bent's Old Fort
The history of commemoration of the place, events, and people related to Bent's Old Fort illustrates changing societal values and evolving norms of memorialization and resource stewardship.
Last updated: April 4, 2025
Park footer
Contact Info
Mailing Address:
35110 State Highway 194
La Junta,
CO
81050
Phone:
719 383-5010
The park's phone system is currently unreliable and may not work if you attempt to call; we strongly suggest use of email for all non-emergency inquiries.
Staff are available Monday through Friday to take your call from 9:00 a. m. - 3:30 p. m. Mountain Time. If no one is available to take your call, please leave a message, and someone will return your call as soon as possible.
