Learn how you can get an up close look at the Fort Union National Monument ruins

Fort Union National Monument is offering visitors a rare opportunity this month.

On Saturday, Nov. 16, and Sunday, Nov. 17, Fort Union will host a walk through the ruins at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on both days. The approximately one-mile trip will last between 60 and 90 minutes, and focuses on history and preservation efforts. While visitors are usually able to see the ruins from a distance, they aren’t normally allowed to get an up-close-and-personal view. No registration is required and like all Fort Union programs, there is no charge to attend.

A walk through history: Fort Union National Monument tour offers a rare up close look at the ruins

“What makes it a lot different is that the visitors will actually be able to walk in some of the ruins of some of the buildings,” says Mike Weinstein, a park ranger at Fort Union. “And typically when visitors come here, they are required to stay on the walking path and not go into the ruins for safety.

“There is an interest among some of our visitors to learn more about the fine points of preserving the ruins, and to actually be inside the ruins and talking about what the preservation crew looks for when they’re making preservation repairs and what the archaeologists look for when they’re assessing the quality of the buildings. To be able to do that I think has a strong appeal to a subset of our visitors.”

The ruins walk is a new program at Fort Union, though Weinstein says it did undergo a test run with a small number of attendees last year.

“I’ve been here almost eight years. It hasn’t been done since I’ve been here,” Weinstein said. “... It’s not something that we would undertake lightly because the protection of those ruins is the overriding important goal for the Fort Union National Monument.”

Education will be a major component of the ranger-led tour, particularly when it comes to discussing preservation efforts at the ruins. Visitors will be able to examine “potential failings of the ruins,” such as cracks or spots where the adobe has begun to erode and places where walls may be twisted or leaning. The guests will also learn how to assess the ruins using a simplified version of a numeric rating system that a professional specialist might use.

According to Weinstein, that aspect of the tour had its desired effect during the trial run.

“One of the visitors finished her walk around the fort on the walking trail, and she came back into the visitor center afterwards and started telling us how she was in her head evaluating all these buildings she was looking at as she was walking through the fort on the walking trail,” he said. “I felt that was a strong reinforcement that there was a good learning experience happening on the program because it changed the way she looked at those buildings on the remainder of the walk.”

There will, of course, also be some discussion of history as well, as the tour enters ruins that once housed military officers.

“If you’re standing in the ruins of an old house and people see things, they naturally ask about how the people lived in that house at the time,” Weinstein said. “So it does bleed a little bit into the normal historical discussions.”

Weinstein adds that the appropriate safety precautions have been taken when laying out the route of the walk. That means visitors won’t be guided to areas with tall walls to avoid the possibility of falling adobe. Attendees should be prepared for rough, unlevel terrain, and each person will be provided with a reflective vest to be worn during the program.

“The main point is it’s very unusual access for the public,” Weinstein said. “That’s the really big deal about it.”