Sutter's Fort Living History and Pioneer Demonstration Days return to the year 1846, the year California became a U.S. territory. Park docents and volunteers re-create the everyday life and times at "Fort New Helvetia," Sutter’s original name for the Fort.

Men dressed in heavy buckskin loading their flintlock rifles. Soldiers from the 1840s perform drills, while the blacksmith makes horseshoes at a hot forge. Women scrub clothes on a washboard and prepare stews over cooking fires.

Docent Mark DeLong holds a cannonball as he explains Sutter had the cannon in the Southeast bastion of the original fort until 1846, when the guns were removed and it was used for storage. Then the bastion was used as a hospital for Cholera and other patients in 1849-50, with a Dr. Deal in charge. The cannon does get 'fired'.

The characters and costumes seen have been extensively researched for presenting an exciting period in our state's past. Costumes are authentic, from fur hats to ivory buttons and buckled shoes. Sutter’s Fort Living History Days and Pioneer Demonstration Days are filled with California History.

DeLong gives school children a history lesson.

Two visitors overlook the an oven and cooking pot from the original building inside the fort. Of the original fort, the two-story central building, made of adobe and oak, remains, the fort's outer walls and rooms, which had disappeared by the 1860s, were reconstructed after the State acquired the property in 1890.

 Firewood around a cooking area in the interior of the fort.

The fort was built by Swiss immigrant John Sutter more than 150 years ago is considered a pivotal point in history. The walls  were 2 1/2 feet thick and 15 to 18 feet high -- and developed what he considered to be the real wealth of California -- crops such as grapes and wheat, along with vast herds of cattle.

The Native Sons of the Golden West were influential in the restoration of the Fort which began in 1891 and was completed in 1893. Donated to the State of California, Sutter's Fort became a part of the California State Park System in 1947. Sutter's Fort stands as the oldest restored Fort in the United States.

The fort is located in midtown Sacramento between K and L Streets and 26th and 28th Streets • 2701 L St.

Information accompanying photos is from parks.ca.gov/, militarymuseum.org, hmdb.org

Living History Days at Sutter's Fort are10am-5pm Wednesdays and Friday-Sundays until June 30 then Tuesdays-Sundays in July.

Information:   (916) 445-4422.

SacPress Photos | Kati Garner