Fort Snelling State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. Its most notable feature is the historic Fort Snelling, which dates from 1820. The fort itself is operated by the Minnesota Historical Society and requires a separate entrance fee. The bulk of the state park preserves the bottomland forest, rivers, and backwater lakes below the river bluffs. The park was opened in 1962. Both the State Park and Historic Fort are part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a National Park Service site.
As of 2005, the park hosts 400,000 visitors annually and contains the restored fort, a visitor center, 18 miles (29 km) of cross-country skiing trails, 18 miles (29 km) of hiking trails, and 5 miles (8.0 km) of biking trails. These trails connect the park to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Minnehaha Park, and regional trail systems like the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway and the Big Rivers Regional Trail. Minnesota State Highway 55 crosses over the park on the Mendota Bridge, and many jets taking off and landing at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport fly directly over the park.
Read more about Fort Snelling State Park: Landscape, History, Recreation
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“There was a deserted log camp here, apparently used the previous winter, with its “hovel” or barn for cattle.... It was a simple and strong fort erected against the cold, and suggested what valiant trencher work had been done there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“Linnæus, setting out for Lapland, surveys his “comb” and “spare shirt,” “leathern breeches” and “gauze cap to keep off gnats,” with as much complacency as Bonaparte a park of artillery for the Russian campaign. The quiet bravery of the man is admirable.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)