Information Center
Address: 35110 State Highway 194, La Junta, CO 81050
Bent's Old Fort was an adobe trading post built in 1833 on the Arkansas River, then the border between territory claimed by the United States and Mexico. For most of its 16-year history it was the only major permanent settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and the Mexican settlements, a crossroads where traders, trappers, soldiers, and Cheyenne and Arapaho people met in peaceful trade for bison robes. The fort standing today is a full-scale reconstruction on the original site.
Tour the reconstructed plaza, trade room, and living quarters, meet costumed interpreters during living-history programs, and walk the riverside trail along the old Santa Fe Trail corridor; young kids love the wagons and farm animals in the plaza. For a challenge, work through every living-history station and exhibit in one long visit and trace the fort's role in the opening of the Southwest.
Coordinates: 38.04323, -103.43193