Retired teacher and Niles resident Dee Beaumont considers herself a lifelong learner. One of her “bucket list” items was to be a part of an archaeological dig. Through her travels, she had witnessed several digs in locations across the globe. But to fulfill her wish, she did not even have to leave her longtime hometown.

Dee had been aware of the Fort St. Joseph archaeological project for many years and knew that week-long camps are offered for the public who want to participate. In 2018, she decided this was the year.

Fort St. Joseph was built by the French in 1691 along the St. Joseph River near present-day Niles. A religious mission, trading post and military garrison, the Fort ranked fourth in volume of furs traded among all posts in New France during the 18th Century. In 1761, the British took control of Fort St. Joseph. The post fell under Native control in a 1763 rebellion led by the Odawa Chief Pontiac. The Spanish held it for a single day in 1781. Fort St. Joseph was abandoned by the start of the 1800s and disappeared into the woods.

Though community memory of the Fort remained strong, its exact location was lost to time until 1998. A local organization, Support the Fort, Inc. invited archaeologists from Western Michigan University to survey the area. The artifacts discovered helped pinpoint the location of the Fort.

More than 20 years later, archaeologists are still uncovering clues about this chapter in Niles’ past. Summer camps allow interested participants a chance to work alongside them. To train for the work, campers spend mornings learning the history of the fort and discussing excavation techniques.

Campers head out to the site in the afternoon and are paired with student and staff archaeologists. Each is assigned to a “pit,” where they search carefully for artifacts. It is a slow process. Digging happens centimeters at a time. After they painstakingly sift through each layer, the dirt is put through a wet screen to recover tiny artifacts which may have been missed.

Dee recalls the excitement of finding her first beads and pieces of animal bone. Through the classroom portion of the camp, she learned that beads come from all over Europe as trade goods. Animal bones give clues to diet of French habitants, the traders, soldiers and priests who resided at the fort.

What were people eating at the fort? Mostly deer, as it turns out, but also waterfowl, wild turkey and fish. Dr. Terry Martin, Curator Emeritus of Anthropology at the Illinois State Museum, hosted a special workshop on identifying animal bones during the week of Dee’s camp for hands-on learning about how items are classified and studied after they are removed from the ground.

As a unique, experiential learning opportunity, the archaeology summer camps also offer a chance for educators to earn continuing education credits. As a former teacher of grades 2 through 4, Dee exclaims, “I would have loved to do this camp while I was teaching. It would be such a fun way to earn credits and bring those lessons back to the classroom for my students. People often assume ‘digging’ means finding dinosaur bones, but archaeology is really about studying people of the past and learning how they lived.”

Registration is currently underway for the Fort St. Joseph Summer Camps. Camps take place during July and August and are open to middle school, high school and adult lifelong learners and educators. The cost of the camp is $150. Scholarships may be available.

For more information, please contact Christina Arseneau at the Niles History Center, at 269-845-4054 or visit nileshistorycenter.org.