Busy Day at Fort de Chartres!

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Thursday, May 18th, 2017, former site supervisor, Darrell Duensing, and Kathy Janik, Fort librarian, welcomed the Fort de Chartres State Historic Site’s new Site Services Specialist, Dr. Todd J. Hamilton, Ph.D. Todd has a love for all things French and has a passion for foreign languages, cultures, history, and literature. As a Navy veteran with service during Operation Desert Storm as a translator/interpreter, Dr. Hamilton joins us from Springfield, IL. Todd has worked with the State of Illinois and the IHPA since 2011 with the specific goal of landing an assignment at Fort de Chartres. He is eager to begin, and enthusiastically considers his new post as a veritable “dream job.” Welcome, Todd, to the heart of the French Colonial Illinois Country and let the journey begin!

Thursday was also just a beautiful Fort day for a school tour in the Illinois Country. Fort volunteers welcomed the 4th Grade from the Dupo School District and these students were given a wonderful journey through French Colonial history at Fort de Chartres. Our friend and former site supervisor, Darrel Duensing, was joined by Kathy Janik, Les Amis & French Marine member, speaking about and demonstrating life at Fort de Chartres to the visiting students and teachers, along with Les Amis’ Jennifer Duensing. We thank them all for sharing their morning at the Fort. If your school or organization is interested in a tour of Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, please email us at lesamisdufortdechartres@gmail.com. We would love to share the history of our Fort!

And to conclude a busy day and as a continuation of our efforts to welcome our community to Fort de Chartres State Historic Site, two of the Fort’s support organizations hosted the Prairie du Rocher Chamber of Commerce May meeting in the Fort Guards’ Room. Jennifer Duensing, President of Les Amis du Fort de Chartres, and Jason Duensing, President of Les Coureurs des Bois de Fort de Chartres, hosted the Chamber this past Thursday evening and offered a light repast and refreshments to Chamber members attending this meeting. Our thanks to these organizations and to the Chamber for their support of the Fort.