Next Rendezvous January 25 & 26, 2025
2025 Rendezvous Dates: January 25 & 26, March 22 & 23, and October 25 & 26
Camp DuBois Raffle
We had a great time at the Spring Rendezvous. Had a few people come by and visit. Shopped a little. Watched the blacksmith work. Tried some samples from the oven. Thank you to everyone who attended.
2023 Fall Rendezvous
We had a great time at the Fall Rendezvous on Oct 28 & 29, 2023. It was cold & wet both Saturday and Sunday, but we had fun anyway. The roof over the ovens made it possible to bake bread & meat pies. Adrian & Sawyer finished some projects and showed visitors how to work iron & wood. We did have some brave visitors who looked at the wares from our merchants (in tents or on the blanket). And we gathered inside the stockade walls to socialize and stay out of the wind. Thanks to all who came.
Big Thank You to the Royal Rangers Mission Work Crew
The Royal Rangers contacted us last year about holding their “Frontier Camping Fellowship” at Camp DuBois. This is an annual event where the Voyager and Riverboat units meet and camp together. There were 160+ campers from Thursday, Oct. 5th to Sunday, Oct 8th from 12 different states.
However, the adult Royal Rangers usually do a “mission project” before the event. Jeff Birkey had been at the site before and knew we needed to get the fascia replaced. The crew offered to do that project and supplied the cedar boards and drip edge needed. They arrived on Sunday afternoon and by Monday evening told us that they would be done with the fascia by noon on Tuesday. Their construction supervisor, Rick Dostal, asked if we needed any other projects done? We bought the wood for the roof over the ovens and brought it to them by 1 pm on Tuesday. By Wednesday evening they had done every project I could think of. They replaced all the fascia on the cabins, planed some doors so they don’t stick, repaired the thresholds & steps at all doorways, straightened the washerwoman’s shed, built the bread oven roof, repaired the table by the bread oven, put tarps on the roof of the wood shed, repaired the bridge to the walking trail, left us new tables & target frames on the shooting range, and left the site looking wonderful. Please come out and check it out.
Fall Rendezvous, Oct 22 & 23, 2022 It was a great weekend. Beautiful sunset.
The 2022 May rendezvous had beautiful weather. As we noted it was a timeline event but we had a large jump in times. We had a small group of black powder era folk who stayed in the cabins and enjoyed the site. (It didn’t rain on Saturday or Sunday, in spite of the weather the week leading in.) And we had a group of SCA folk who represented the Middle Ages & Renaissance. It was a beautiful weekend. We had a few families come thru and visit. The young ones played some games and learned about history. We hope more folks will join us next year. We would like to have more eras of history represented.
Camp DuBois is a replica of the 1803-1804 winter fort of Lewis and Clark prior to their expedition into the newly acquired territory, of the Louisiana Purchase. The original camp was built by the Corp of Discovery, which is a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark.
In the 1970s, the federal government memorialized the winter assembly encampment, Camp DuBois, as the start of the Lewis and Clark.
The camp was built by volunteers to commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the Lewis & Clark expedition. There are 5 bunkhouses and private quarters for Captain Clark. Each regular cabin has a working fireplace with dining area, 8 bunks for sleeping and cob oven.
To view additional photos of Camp DuBois and find out more about what is available onsite, click here.
Improvements to the original build continues to be a totally volunteer efforts from an Explorer scout project to reenactment group. If you are interested in volunteer opportunities and want to learn what projects are on the horizon, use this link to learn more…
Today, the camp is managed by the Wood River Heritage Council and is available for use or for volunteer opportunities contact either of our co-directors, Alice Buzzard (618-462-7765) or Luke Reinhold at (314-223-2621).
Flyer for Camp DuBois
Workday scheduled for Saturday, March 5, 2022 from 9 AM – 3 PM.