Heritage Hill State Park
Guard House
Green Bay, Wisconsin
As visitors enter Heritage Hill State Park’s Fort Howard through its new entrance, they’ll not only be treated to a view of the large whitewashed stockade and restored nineteenth century Guard House, but will also find a modern exhibit in the Fort area designed by Crux Creative. This exhibit offers an informative introduction to the Fort and supports museum interpreters escorting visitors around Heritage Hill.
Entering the Fort through the sally port, visitors encounter prison cell doors on their right and left. The doors on the right open to prison cells which visitors can enter to get a sense of what the fort’s unfortunate past occupants must have experienced. The doors to the left open to a modern exhibit space that tells the story of Fort Howard in Green Bay.
Exhibit panels provide an overview of the Fort – from the 1816 building to Camp Smith to the Fort’s redesign and relationship with the city. One panel focuses on the restoration project. Several iPads secured in the exhibit enable visitors to discover more about the Fort, including details about court martials, prisoners in the fort and more. A free-flow timeline of national and local events helps visitors put Fort events in context.
Outdoors reading panels overlooking the Fort continue up the ADA ramp. These panels share the story of the buildings currently in the Hill’s Fort Howard area, their historic/reproduction status and their location in the 1830s Fort. Many of these were also involved in the restoration process during the evolution of this exhibit.
Heritage Hill staff, community historians and independent researchers worked with Crux Creative throughout the process. They assisted us with concept development, provided research and general information, helping us manage all the myriad of project details and script writing.
We were delighted and honored to have played a key role in this project as proud citizens of Wisconsin and devotees of museums everywhere. Heritage Hill State Park was recently recognized as the Best place to Explore Nature in Wisconsin State Parks and it was especially gratifying to know that we could add our own contribution to this special public attraction.
Heritage Hill State Park – Guard House received a 2014 Brown County Historical Society Historic Preservation Award.
