Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site

Bent's Old Fort was the only permanent white settlement on the Santa Fe Trail between Missouri and Santa Fe.
In the 1840s the Arkansas River was the border between territory claimed by the United States and Mexico. Located along the river, Bent's Fort was an adobe trading post on the Santa Fe Trail, where traders, trappers, travelers, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes came together in peaceful terms for trade. Today, a reconstructed fort allows visitors to explore the front line of Westward Expansion.
Map showing location of park.
Padre Martinez: Patriot, Villain, or Scapegoat?
Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site announces a special presentation for Friday, February 27th, 2026, as part of its “Stories from the Borderlands” program series. This presentation will be offered at 2:00 p.m. in the Ed Stafford Theater at Otero College, in La Junta, Colorado.
A group of visitors stand around a large wooden apparatus in a plaza courtyard.
Photo by NPS/D. Ocheltree
Bent's Old Fort with shortgrass prairie in foreground and blue sky and clouds above
Photo by NPS Photo
Wooden boxes and buffalo furs are scattered around a plaza inside an adobe fortification.
Photo by NPS Photo
Bent's Old Fort with shortgrass prairie, tepee and wagon in foreground and blue sky & clouds above
Photo by NPS Photo
bundles of glass trade beads tied together hang from a wooden rafter
Photo by NPS Photo
An adobe fort with lights under a starry sky
Photo by NPS Photo
A Conestoga wagon and a solar race car stand on a road with a large adobe fort in the background
Photo by NPS Photo
Bent's Old Fort in background with wagon in front; fall yellow cottonwood leaves in foreground
Photo by NPS Photo
A row of saddles are arrayed along a wooden beam near an adobe building
Photo by NPS Photo
Two animals are tied to a wooden frame in the interior of a large adobe structure.
Photo by NPS Photo
A wooden counter is in the foreground of a trade room, with sales items on display in the background
Photo by NPS Photo