Ouiatenon, French colonial fort in Tippecanoe County, United States.
Fort Ouiatenon is a reconstructed French colonial trading post on the Wabash River in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. The grounds include a blockhouse that now serves as a small museum, along with open areas and paths leading down to the water.
The post was founded in 1717, making it the first European settlement in what is now Indiana, built by the French to control trade along the Wabash River. Over the following decades it passed through French, British, and American hands before being abandoned around 1791.
The name Ouiatenon comes from the Wea people, a group of the Miami confederacy who lived along the Wabash River. Each year a festival brings the site to life, with craftspeople showing old trades and skills that would have been common at a river trading post.
The site is open during daylight hours at no cost, with paths along the river and two covered picnic areas near the blockhouse. Groups planning to visit together are encouraged to give advance notice to make the most of the space.
Fort Ouiatenon was named a National Historic Landmark in 2021 even though the blockhouse on site today is a reproduction and not the original structure. The landmark status recognizes the ground itself and what happened there, not the building.
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