CHINOOK — Fort Columbia State Park will host an open house 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 7. The park is at 475 U.S. Highway 101 in Chinook at the northern entrance to the Chinook tunnel.

The fort has a rich history including stories about Gen. Dwight Eisenhower staying there overnight during World War II. It was closed in 1947 and did not reopen until 1973. Other closures followed.

The event will be an opportunity to view the restoration work which has taken place under the direction of State Park Superintendent Evan Roberts

Entertainment will be provided by students in the Ilwaco High School Jazz Band at 11 a.m. and the Skamokawa Swamp Opera, an eclectic folk group from Wahkiakum County, Wash., at noon and 1 p.m. The group’s members are vocalists and multi-instrumentalists, using varied combinations of cello, guitar, banjo, harmonica, mandocello, percussion, mandolin and melodica. They draw from a variety of genres from pop to opera and have appeared at Pickathon, the Vancouver Music and Arts Festival and the FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria.

Members of the Peninsula Association of Performing Artists will be on hand. The actors are deep into rehearsals for the musical “Into the Woods,” which opens in July at the fort theater.

Guided tours of Battery 246 will be available, as well as a walking tour of Fort Columbia’s pre-World War I buildings and gun batteries. The Interpretive Center and Commander’s Quarters museum will be open for self-guided tours. 

The Commander’s Quarters have been restored under the direction of long-time Ilwaco historian Donella Lucero. “We have restored a tremendous amount of it, but we still have much more to go,” said Susan Gebhardt, president of the Friends of Fort Columbia.

Light refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Columbia River Gateway.

No Washington State Parks Discover Pass is required. Concerts are played on a lawn with no seating, so visitors are encouraged to bring their own folding chairs.