I watched as the bituminous coal glowed red in a forge.

Blacksmith Ray Baker looked and said the coals' temperature exceeded that of molten lava. He shoved a steel rod into the coals; minutes later, he withdrew it and used a pair of tongs to twist it into a circle.

This was hotter than hell history.

"This not only entertains visitors, but it also gives them a good look at the past," he said.

Sitting deep in the woods of Tacoma's Point Defiance Park, the site affords a clear look back into the mid-19th century.

Established in 1833 on the beach above the Nisqually River delta by the present town of DuPont, Fort Nisqually functioned as a commercial, non-military outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the British fur trading enterprise enveloping Canada and parts of the northern United States.

When the fur trade diminished in the 1840s, the British transitioned into farming by creating the Puget Sound Agricultural Company.

That's when the fort's economy went global.

Crops produced and livestock raised at the fort not only met local needs but were also exported to Russian America, Hawaii, Spanish California, Europe and Asia.

Darryl Hall understands that.  

Dressed impeccably as a Scottish businessman, he approached me as I looked over some of the goods in the fort's Granary, one of the two original structures.

"This place," he said as he looked around the fort, "was their shopping mall."

Built in 1850 as a storage facility for the large annual harvest of the fort's grains and produce, the Granary now hosts a wide-ranging display of the clothing, tools and weapons the inhabitants bought and traded.

Hall handed me a replica of a short-barreled flintlock musket the fort's inhabitants would have used to hunt.

"It's effective range was about two hundred feet," he added as I sighted down the barrel.

A moment later, I walked over the green sward from the Granary to the Factor's House. Constructed in 1855, it's the fort's other original structure and was the home of Dr. William Tolmie, a surgeon and the fort's manager, or "Chief Factor."

I marveled at the construction of the walls, doorframes, floors and furniture; they were built to last.

History unfolded, and in 1846 the United States paid the HBC $650,000 for Fort Nisqually and the Puget Sound Agriculture Company's land.

Except for the Factor's House and the Granary, decay destroyed most of the fort.  In the early 1930s, civic-minded individuals moved the two structures and reconstructed the other buildings in Point Defiance Park.

"There's a ‘wow!' factor here; a connection to the past," commented Lane Sample, the curator of education and outreach. "It's a good chance to play with history."

Spring and summer events to look forward to are as follows:

April 23 - Sewing to Sowing: A look at an 1850s spring by playing 19th century games, sowing seeds and visiting baby chicks and lambs.

May 21 - Queen Victoria's Birthday: Cannon fire, musket volleys and reenactors will celebrate her birthday.

June 18 - Heritage Foodways: Enjoy the aromas of 19th century cooking.

July 15 - Family Fun Night: Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy relay races, complemented by ice cream and the firings of taffy from the candy cannon.

August 5 - Friday at the Fort: Dance to modern music while enjoying some beer and wine.

August 13-14 - Brigade Encampment: Hundreds of reenactors will camp at the fort as it hosts the arrival of a fur trade caravan.

For more information about hours, directions and events, visit www.FortNisqually.org or call 253.591.5339.