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A visit to the Forest History Center offers a variety of exciting opportunities to explore Minnesota's forests and meet the people who lived and worked in them over 100 years ago.
Most visitors spend two to three hours at the Forest History Center. A good place to start is at the Center's Interpretive Building where exhibits, films and displays help set the stage for your journey through time and to help you understand the story of people and forests. 
From the Interpretive Building, you can join a one-hour guided tour or explore on your own — we'll provide a map! Either way, we make learning about the past, present and future fun.
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The Logging Camp is a "living history" feature where guides or interpreters dress in the clothing of lumberjacks and perform the tasks of actual logging camp workers. You'll be encouraged to visit with the camp cook and cook's assistants (called cookees), the company clerk, bullcook (camp janitor), saw filer, lumberjacks, barn boss (who cares for the draft horses), the blacksmith and "wood butcher" (carpenter).
 Board the river "wanigan," the barge-like boat used on log drives, as it floats on the Mississippi River awaiting the next drive downstream. Join the crew of "river pigs" (log drivers) as they push and prod the huge pine logs from the pineries up north into the river for transport to the waiting sawmills in river towns.
Fast forward to 1934: Visit the Center's Minnesota Forest Service station and meet the Forest Patrolman who explains the importance of protecting the forest from fire. Sign up as a "tower man" and climb the state's only 100-foot fire tower with a live daily interpretive program. From there, you can keep watch over the forest.
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 Walk the Center's three nature trails for a quiet and colorful view of the Mississippi River and northern Minnesota's woodlands. Learn about the value of trees to both industry and the environment.
Stay all day to unlock forest history, learn about forests today and imagine how we will shape our forests for future generations. Bring a lunch to the Center's picnic grounds and pavilion.
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About Forest History
