Walk this way
Local historian Robert Singletary stands in front of Old Fort Sherman Chapel in authentic 1800s military uniform on Tuesday. Singletary and the Museum of North Idaho will begin historic CDA walking tours for the season today.
MADISON HARDY/Press
Local historian, Robert Singletary, shows off his historic military uniform on Tuesday. Singletary and the Museum of North Idaho will begin walking tours for the season today. (MADISON HARDY/PRESS)
Historical tours begin today
Fall in love with Coeur d’Alene all over again this summer on a Museum of North Idaho walking tour.
With two fun-filled routes around Old Fort Sherman and downtown Coeur d’Alene, families and large groups can learn about the city origins, gold miners, fur traders, and what life was like in the 1800s.
After canceling their anticipated bus route as a COVID-19 safety precaution, Robert Singletary and the museum are directing their storytelling magic of community heritage into their traditional walking tours.
“We will not be doing the bus tours, we had the bus all painted up and ready to go but we just decided that having enclosed people that close to each other was basically not a good idea,” said Singletary, the museum’s resident historian and program director. “We debated even holding (walking tours) this year, but we will try to do social distancing and are asking people to bring masks, especially for when we go inside.”
Singletary, who has led tours for 12 years, lives and breathes North Idaho history. Embodying characters such as Steamboat Captain Peter Sorensen and Commander of Fort Sherman, General William Carlin, Singletary captivates audiences of all ages with his authentic performances and traditional army uniform.
The tour features historical landmarks such as the Fort Sherman Chapel, Officer’s Quarters, the Powder Magazine, and the Blackwell House.
“We were the result of the Fort, and as the Fort developed the town Coeur d’Alene developed along the side of the Fort. So the town of Coeur d’Alene and the Fort sort of grew up together,” he said. “There probably would have been no Coeur d’Alene without Fort Sherman.”
The adventures begin today and run through the middle of October, Tuesday through Saturday excluding holidays, weather permitting. The museum will not be offering any form of transportation for those with difficulty walking or standing for an hour to an hour and a half.
Tours depart from the Museum of North Idaho at 11 a.m. for Old Fort Sherman and 1:30 p.m. for downtown CDA. Tickets are $15 per adult, $7 for ages 6 to 16-years old or free for children under the age of 6, and include museum admission and parking.
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Ticket info: museumni.org/
