HAMMOND – This Memorial Day weekend, take a walk through history on the Old Soldiers Trail at the Fort Stevens State Park Historic Area. Visit re-enactors and learn the story of Fort Stevens, Oregon’s Defender at the River of the West.

“Celebrating Veterans, Celebrating Freedom” features a timeline stretching from the Civil War through World War II. For the family-friendly event, park visitors are given maps with the location of re-enactors representing different eras of U.S. military history. Visit a re-enactor station and get a star on your map. Visit all the stations to receive a free Fort Stevens souvenir. Stations include the reconstructed Civil War Earthworks fort, historic gun batteries, 1910 Guardhouse and Battery Russell, which will feature displays of the 1942 shelling of Fort Stevens by a Japanese submarine.

Sponsored by Fort Stevens State Park and the Friends of Old Fort Stevens, the event takes place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 26, and Sunday, May 27. Historic Area hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The $5 Oregon State Parks day-use fee per vehicle will be charged but there is no extra admission fee for the event. All donations made during the event support the Battery Pratt gun reconstruction project.

The Fort Stevens State Park Historic Area is located off Pacific Drive west of Hammond and features living history presentations weekends from May through September, a World War II special living history event July 21 to 22, and a Civil War re-enactment over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1 through 3. For more information about these and other events, contact the Friends of Old Fort Stevens at (503) 861-1470 or the Fort Stevens Museum office at (503) 861-2000.